Book review: St. Augustine author Kaye D. Schmitz is back with a thriller inspired by a decades-old mystery.

ON DEADLY GROUNDS

Author: Kaye D. Schmitz

Lamplighter, 298 pages, $14.99 paperback

Clairmont Place, a magnificent old estate owned by the Sinclair family down the road a bit from the Biltmore in Asheville, N.C., has been selected as the site of the next International G-7 Summit conference between the world’s top economies. Mattie Maguire, whose family has cared for the estate for the past 80 years, is one of those responsible for making sure it comes to pass. But she has a few hurdles to jump before it does.

Her father had put his reputation on the line by promising the powers that be everything would be ready in time, but he needs the permission of the owners — and no one has seen them in many years. Mattie sets out to rectify this situation, but in doing so she puts herself and her family in harm’s way. While uncovering secrets, she also manages to solve a decades-old mystery, as well as a more recent personal one.

In “On Deadly Grounds” St. Augustine author Kaye D. Schmitz takes us on a journey that involves international intrigue and travel both in time and place — a story of money, murder, greed and retribution.

The book was inspired by a real event — the murder-suicide of wealthy Ned Doheny and his secretary that took place just four months after Ned, his wife and their five children moved into the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills in 1929. The well-rehearsed story told by Ned’s wife, Lucy, was that the secretary had killed his boss and then shot himself in the back of the head. “…speculation was rampant, with one theory that Ned Doheny did the murdering and then killed himself. (Another was) that Lucy Doheny killed them both.”

Chocked full of fascinating detail and intimately drawn characters, Schmitz’ latest is a fast-moving twister that will keep you turning the pages.

C.F. Foster lives in Riverside.