This time-shifting historical-fiction novel centers around a mysterious decorative silver box lost almost 80 years ago and the murky past of Frances and her son Harry Langley. In the present time, Harry struggles to understand his mother, who abandoned him at a young age and recently passed away. Harry is sorting through Frances's estate when a long-ago girlfriend, Tabitha, shows up unexpectedly, equipped with a letter from Frances. Tabitha's presence sets Harry off on an adventure and offers clues to the infamous Klinkosch box. Frances's story is set in 1980s France, where she spends her summer vacations with her aunt Henrietta, away from her English home and swept up in a romance with an older man who deals in antiquities. As Harry tries to find the box in Frances's cluttered home, the past is revealed slowly, with Tabitha's influence and the passage of time pushing toward forgiveness and acceptance for things hidden. This is an appealing mystery with sprinkle of romance and tragedy.

After the death of his mother, Frances, Harry is surprised by the arrival of his lost love Tabitha, brought to his doorstep by a letter from Frances begging Tabitha and Harry to find the Klinkosch box secreted among the hoarder's contents of her Cotswold cottage. To acquire the funds to keep the cottage as his home, Harry and Tabitha must find the valuable silver box. Jumping between the 1980s (when teenage Frances was involved with a mysterious older man in France while visiting family during school holidays) and the present (as Harry and Tabitha unearth clues to Frances's past and the Klinkosch box), the story lines come together in a series of surprising revelations. Harry and Tabitha must discover the treasure and their true feelings before they lose everything, including each other. Adams (Between the Lies) manages to pack a great deal--teen pregnancy, bipolar disorder, hoarding, art theft, domestic abuse--into one tightly plotted, entertaining novel. VERDICT For readers who enjoy romantic suspense.--Barbara Clark-Greene, Westerly, RI