Altered to Death

An intriguing mystery with scrapbooking thrown in. In Altered to Death by Christina Freeburn, Faith Hunter has been asked by the town council to develop a scrapbook for the town’s birthday. One of the mysteries is why the Evertons, founding family left Eden, West Virginia, without a trace.

The family’s mansion has been abandoned since they left, but now the town wants to preserve it. The Buford brothers have been hired to  clean up and restore the exterior of the mansion. The beautifully ornate woodwork has been brought back to its original glory by the brothers. The interior needs work and the Buford brothers are anxious to get inside. Money from the town is an issue.

Faith needs to look through some trunks in the house to see if she can find any diaries and learn more about the Evertons and their life in town. When she finally is able to get into the attic, Faith finds what looks like a diary from one of the Everton daughters.

While the city council is trying to find more money to continue the renovations,  a missing heir is

announced. The attorney for the heir refuses to disclose who it is and demands the work at the house be stopped. Shortly thereafter a skeleton is found on the grounds. Faith tries to unravel the two mysteries.

Thee are another set of brothers in this series - The Brodarts brothers. They believe they are the rightful heirs to Everton. Both of the Brodart brothes are rude and angry characters and give Faith problems with taking anything from the home.

Pulling one thread at a time, Faith solves the mystery, I enjoyed the series and plan to go back to read the others in the series. 

One negative comment: not sure why authors use similar names for their characters. There are two sets of brothers whose last name starts with a B. Please there are 25 others letters. Way less confusing