These Blue Mountains

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapses when her fiancé, Fritz, vanishes after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1933, Hedda is stunned to see Fritz's name in a photograph of an American monument to German POWs in Asheville, North Carolina. Determined to reclaim his body and bring closure to his ailing mother, Hedda embarks on a journey from Germany to the US. However, her quest takes a dark turn when Fritz's casket contains the remains of a woman who died under mysterious circumstances.

Local deputy Garland Jones, who helped bury Fritz Meyer's coffin, thought he'd left that dark chapter behind. The unexpected arrival of Hedda, a long-suffering and captivating woman, forces him to confront how much of the truth he really knows. Hedda and Garland grow closer as they work together to uncover the identity of the woman in the casket and to unravel Fritz's fate. But with Hedda in the US on borrowed time as unrest in Germany looms, she fears she'll be forced to return home without answers or an end to the ghosts of her past.

Sarah Loudin Thomas pens a gripping tale of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.