Out of the Ruins - Tapa blanda

After his hostess, Hannah Hill, dies from multiple sclerosis, Ben Reese tentatively investigates her reports of a disguised nighttime intruder and uncovers a mystery involving euthanasia, arson, poaching, and jealousy. Reprint.

THE WILD AND BEAUTIFUL SEA ISLAND WAS A PLACE TO DIE FOR.
AND KILL FOR.

Of all the aristocratic dynasties that once reigned over Georgia’s Cumberland Island, only the Hill family survives. Now they too are threatened. Charlotte, the family matriarch, has died suddenly and mysteriously, leaving her sister-in-law, Hannah, to protect the unspoiled paradise Charlotte had so passionately loved. But Hannah’s own health is precarious, developers are closing in, and the younger generation―charming cousins Mary, Leah, and Johanna―don’t seem to share the family devotion to the land. Even the island folk, some as venomous as Cumberland diamondbacks, are closely watching Hannah’s struggle to breathe. Looks like all eyes are on the Hill house. And someone covets what they see.

Archivist and family friend Ben Reese knows, however, that appearances can be deceiving. And murder can seem so easy and so right when it gets you what you desperately crave.