Buried Secrets: Where the mystery begins

Buried Secrets begins at the tail end of summer in upstate New York in the quaint little town of Skaneateles. Just a short drive down West Lake Street sits a cozy cottage squarely on the lake. The cottage belongs to Ella’s grandparents and is not far from the famous Sherwood Inn, the Blue Water Grill where Ella used to work and St. James’ Episcopal Church, where she would have gotten married. 

Her grandparents built this cottage on the lake, because of all the Finger Lakes, it was the cleanest and prettiest, making it the perfect place to raise a family. They admired the beautiful tree-lined streets, a mixture of mature leafy maples, pines, birch, and cherry, that led to and surrounded their home. A private cobbled driveway extended from West Lake Street and wound back to the middle of the property, splitting slightly left toward the garage and right toward the porch. Her grandfather called his cottage a modern Victorian, because it had all the features of a Victorian home, with modern style and amenities. Ella dreamed of having her wedding reception at the cottage, right on the lake, but that was not to be.

A few chapters in, Ella decides that she must go to Italy to help unravel a mystery on her grandfather, Poppy’s behalf. Much of the story continues in Calabria, Italy, a small southern Italian town, where Poppy grew up. It is surrounded by beautiful homes built into the mountainside, overlooking the deep blue Tyrrhenian Sea. With Poppy’s diary in hand, Ella follows clues to the town of Ravagnese, through the enchanting streets of Tropea ending in Scilla, a romantic village also called the little Venice of Calabria.  While exploring the streets of Italy, Ella discovers exactly where the secrets lie and who has something to hide.

Buried Secrets ends where it began, back at the cottage on Skaneateles Lake. But if Ella shares what she knows, will this cottage and her family ever be the same?