Cover of Night, published in 2006, is the 19th mystery novel by Howard. It features a young widowed bed and breakfast owner, Cate Nightengale, and her twin four-year-old sons, who have escaped memories and the high cost of living in Seattle, by moving to a tiny outpost in Idaho. The reader meets the family three years after the move and Cate seems to be making a life, albeit a tentative one, for herself and her sons.
Enter a mysterious bed and breakfast guest, who departs via his bedroom window, leaving all of his luggage behind, and starts a chain of events that leaves Cate -- and the entire town -- under siege.
Several of the Idaho townspeople are not whom they seem to be, including Cal, the seemingly shy handyman. Before the final pages, many of them will have their skill, their will, and their tenaciousness tested.
Cover of Night is a well-written novel, with likeable main characters, but the plot is just too "over-the-top" to be believed. Combine that with a very predictable ending and the novel, which has touches of brilliance in it, is only average. It's not a bad book, but it could have been so much better.
For a review of Linda Howard's earlier book, Kiss Me While I Sleep, click here
