The House by the Cemetery

River Gold left home as a pregnant teenager, desperate to raise her child away from the presence of the Gold family. As the namesake behind the highly successful Gold Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens in Gold Creek, Michigan, the Gold family’s influence was felt everywhere, and she needed to escape it- even if the Gold family refused to accept her as one of their own.

Now, River is called back to Gold Creek when her father, the elder Gregory Gold the first, dies in mysterious circumstances. The local sheriff is convinced that someone in the Gold family was behind the murder and his investigation reaches a new high when other bodies start piling up. Then, of course, there’s the old urban legend about the gravedigger who haunts the cemetery on the property. Would the Gold family actually kill one of their own? Or is there more truth behind the urban legend then everyone has been led to believe?

Lisa Childs is a multi-genre, bestselling author of over eighty novels. From contemporary romance, to women’s fiction to stories on the paranormal, there seems to be nothing that Lisa Childs can’t do. Her newest novel, “The House by the Cemetery” is part paranormal, part mystery, part family drama and completely engaging.

The Gold family is quite large, with the wives and ex-wives of the patriarch, as well as all of their combined children and grandchildren, so expect a large cast of characters. As powerful and rich owners of the only funeral home and cemetery in town, the Gold’s (most of them anyway) are shallow, vain and utterly intolerable, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to know who was killing them off, one by one. River is the protagonist, of course, but the novel also shares the perspective of Sarah (River’s daughter) and the local sheriff, as well as a few small passages from the unidentified murderer.

Due to the large cast of characters, there are infinite possibilities as to who (or what) is killing the Gold family members. After a constant journey of twists and turns, Childs delivers an ending that I didn’t see coming.

Toward the end of the novel, a second plotline is introduced, which has been hinted at throughout the novel, which surrounds the mystery of Sarah’s father and what caused his disappearance seventeen years ago. This plot angle is cleverly interwoven with the Gold family mystery, and Childs gives just enough of this one in the final pages to hint at another story with River and Sarah at the helm. I hope this is the case, as I enjoyed the mother-daughter dynamic and I would love to see more from them.

Lisa Childs “Cemetery” has exactly the right amount of intrigue, suspense, family dysfunction and murder, set in a large estate on a creepy cemetery. If you’re looking for a locked-in mystery with an extra dose of creepiness, “The House by the Cemetery” is the perfect choice!