Ilka Jensen is trying to make it work with her father's funeral home, but with creditors calling and even the IRS hounding them, it's not been easy.
When a local woman is killed in what appears to be a run of the mill home invasion, her husband reaches out to Ilka to handle the funeral. It doesn't take long for Ilka to discover that the woman had a connection to Ilka's father. And that connection is enough for Ilka to wonder about the woman's death. But Ilka's digging into that mystery is complicated when she becomes entangled in her father's other family's drama!
Let me tell you how much I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy! I read the first on audio and physical, the second solely on audio, and dove immediately into the physical copy of the third installment, which I managed to finish in just one day! (It's been so long!)
This second in the series finds Ilka in a whole heap of trouble. She blew it when it came to selling the funeral home in the first book and now it appears she's made enemies in the industry. Everywhere she turns there are unpaid debts, making it increasingly difficult to keep the business going. And even though her father abandoned her and her mother so many years ago, she feels it's her responsibility to try and keep the business afloat, if for no reason other than to help the two employees she now feels an obligation to.
In spite of their situation, she agrees to take the body of a recently murdered woman after the husband pleads his case. And it's somewhat fortuitous because it leads Ilka to a pretty big discovery about her father's past.
But, as mentioned, she has new family drama to deal with as well. Her father's wife and his two daughters have been anything but welcoming to Ilka. But that doesn't stop her from wanting to offer support when she finds out they're in trouble. Little does she know, her reaching out to them upends just about everything she thought she knew about her father!
Ilka's main goal as the books progress is to learn about her dad. To understand, in some way, why he left his family behind to start over in Racine. Her Father's Secret brings Ilka multiple steps closer to that goal!
It's pretty important that you start this series with the first book. They don't really stand on their own very well considering the entire trilogy arc is Ilka's family's drama. But the series as a whole is an absolutely perfect binge read!
Quick shout out to Libro.fm who has all three books availble on audio. The narrator, Molly Parker Myers, really does a phenomenal job of giving voice to Ilka, making these truly enjoyable to listen to!
Order it from your favorite indie via Bookshop!
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