Fourth, and seemingly final book in the Bracebridge historical mystery series set in 1770’s Massachusetts. This book centers on Boar Island, an isolated island in the river that locals claim has been haunted for many years. Charlotte Willette, the series’ heroine, is drawn into the mystery when she is ice skating one frigid winter day and falls through the ice; the house on Boar Island is the closest so she goes there seeking shelter and to get dried out. The mistress of the house and her servant are both very odd women, and Charlotte can’t get away from the house fast enough to suit her! But she is drawn further into the mystery of the place when the only person who visits Boar Island regularly as a messenger and delivery man is brutally murdered. Was someone at the house responsible? I had a really hard time getting into this book—though it appears first on my list because I actually started it on the last day of February, I finished several others below this first as I read this in “nibbles.” LOL I’m kind of glad this is the last in the series, as I doubt I would read further on, though I don’t think it was a planned ending as there were things left unresolved—and the back flyleaf says the author is working on another in the series, but this one was published in 2001, and there’s been no more forthcoming. It’s never good to leave a story unfinished or tied up, I don’t think, but I’m glad to leave it here. This one just didn’t have the same feeling as the first three in the series, which I mostly enjoyed. ( )