As Lindsay struggles with these troubling questions, she helps a local private investigator locate the wooded grave of Shirley Foster, a missing faculty member. Lindsay is sucked into the investigation, which leads to more questions that answers. Why did Shirley Foster lie to the world about her life? Who wanted her dead?

Secrets and lies loom large in Lindsay's life, both professional and personal, as she struggles to find solutions to the mysteries. When artifacts disappear from the university and she and her students are threatened, the stakes are raised. With her job, her reputation, and her life on the line, Lindsay must find a thief and a killer before the police assume she is ultimately responsible.

The Rev. Clare Fergusson wants to forget the things she saw as a combat helicopter pilot and concentrate on her relationship with Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. MP Eric McCrea needs to control the explosive anger threatening his job as a police officer. Will Ellis, high school track star, faces the reality of life as a double amputee. Orthopedist Trip Stillman is denying the extent of�� his traumatic brain injury. And bookkeeper Tally McNabb wrestles with guilt over the in-country affair that may derail her marriage.

But coming home is harder than it looks. One vet will struggle with drugs and alcohol. One will lose his family and friends. One will die.

Since their first meeting, Russ and Clare's bond has been tried, torn, and forged by adversity. But when he rules the veteran's death a suicide, she violently rejects his verdict, drawing the surviving vets into an unorthodox investigation that threatens jobs, relationships, and her own future with Russ.

As the days cool and the nights grow longer, they will uncover a trail of deceit that runs from their tiny town to the upper ranks of the U.S. Army, and from the waters of the Millers Kill to the unforgiving streets of Baghdad.

One Was a Soldier is "a surefire winner" (Booklist) and "Outstanding" (Library Journal)--Julia Spencer-Fleming at her best.