Death of a Dream Catcher, by Linda Norlander. is the fifth in the Cabin by the lake series. I think it is the least successful.
Jamie Forrest is a transplanted New Yorker to an inherited cabin by a lake in Minnesota. In this outing, she is engaged to Jim Monroe. He reveals that his older brother Eli, a high school athlete. went swimming with a group of friends and drowned. Now, with a high school reunion, the ghosts of that twenty year old summer have risen up again. On a camping trip to Bear Island, Jim goes off alone and when he returns he is in a dark mood. Jamie is so distracted worrying about this that she trips over a tree root and falls, breaking her arm. But Jim refuses to tell her the whole story,’for her safety.’ The reunion, which both Jamie and Jim attend, only deepens the mystery. What happened to Lucy, the sister of the housekeeper for the elderly lawyer Jamie has befriended? More concerningly, what is going on with Jim? He is acting out of character and refuses to tell Jamie anything.
The setting is, as usual, well portrayed and the mystery is interesting. But the relationship between Jim and Jamie raised a whole forest of red flags for me. He takes all his phone calls outside and behaves very secretively. He keeps warning her to stay out of it, ‘for her safety’. And after she follows him, and saves not only Jim but other characters as well, he blows up at her. I began wondering why she even wanted to marry the man.
So, a mixed review.