Rising Darkness by Nancy Mehl (Finding Sanctuary Series, book 3)

About the book: When newspaper reporter Sophie Wittenbauer follows a lead on a decades-old crime to Sanctuary, Missouri, she encounters an old crush and new dangers.

My thoughts: Nancy Mehl is a prolific writer. I have read and reviewed her last two three-book series – the Kingdom series and the Sanctuary series. While each novel is a stand alone book, it is more enjoyable to read them in the order in which they were written.

Kingdom and Sanctuary are two Mennonite communities that are a mixture of those of the Mennonite faith and those of other Christian denominations.

The author fleshes out the characters with descriptions, settings, and conversations that help the reader know just what a character’s role in the story really is.

In Rising Darkness we have the conclusion of the Sanctuary three-book series. Having read the Kingdom series, I soon realized that the female protagonist, Sophia, is an abused child/teen from a Mennonite home in Kingdom; and the male protagonist, Jonathan, is a former Kingdom Mennonite who has become a pastor in a church of a different denomination in the town of Sanctuary.

Sanctuary is a close knit community but one in which folks work well together even though they don’t share the same beliefs.

Sophia has come to Sanctuary in search of a story about a criminal and the stolen cash. This should be the making of her reporting career. She goes in as “Emily” to keep it “under cover.” During her search for the missing criminal who she believes may be in Sanctuary, she lies to the dear people in Sanctuary who befriend and aid her.  Troubled by this deception, she still persists in her search. Then real trouble and threats begin.

Mehl writes a good suspense story that is clean, entertaining, and with characters you’d love to have as neighbors and perhaps some you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Another good conclusion to a good series.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.