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A barn with a wooden cow's head peeking out of the loft...

Two girls bicycling on a September day in 1990...

The friend they find dead in the barn...

For the next thirty years, the case of Joseph Wheeler's murder lies as cold as a New Hampshire winter. Deborah Strong has settled in the town she grew up in, learning to heal after her friend's murder, and later, the deaths of her husband and child in an automobile accident. When her former best friend Rachel Cummings returns home for the funeral of Joseph's mother, the precarious peace Deborah has found as the town's librarian is threatened.

Against the backdrop of the beautiful but cold New Hampshire landscape in January, Deborah and Rachel reopen the cold case of their murdered friend, and uncover secrets about their neighbors that have festered for thirty years, as they often do in small towns.

The Barn is a story of friendship lost and recovered, of secrets buried and revealed, and of the power in forgiving others... and ourselves.

Praise for Sharon L. Dean

"Wow!... This page turner was the best surprise this year!"

-Kathleen Costa, King River Life on Tour de Trace

"Sharon Dean has once again added a gem to the mystery genre. Filled with wonderful settings... a winner."

-Larry Maness, author of the Jake Eaton Mysteries, on Death of the Keynote Speaker