Rattling the Bones

Meet Matty Swift, a young bookworm and ancestry buff from Percy Harbor, a small town on the coast of Maine where everybody knows everybody else. Asked to write a family history for Dora Dowe, an elderly neighbor curious about her beloved grandfather's early life, Matty accepts with confident enthusiasm. After all, she's researched her own ancestors, seeking solace after a family tragedy. When her father is called away to help her grandmother, she moves into West Winds, Miss Dowe's creaky old home on the bluff overlooking town, and the quest begins.

Yet Matty is still grieving and vulnerable, and self-doubt creeps in when the grandfather's past proves far murkier than expected. She doggedly rattles the bones, uncovering his trail piece by enigmatic piece, until frightening incidents make her aware that a mysterious someone else is on the hunt, someone who will not be denied. As she scrambles to unearth long-buried Dowe secrets, her only weapons are smarts and persistence. But she'll need more than these to bring the shadowy past into the light: courage, daring, and help from those who love her.