By Laura DeNooyer

This story started out straight-forward enough, but turned into an absolute tangled knot – to the point where I wasn’t even sure how it was going to end!

1950s: The Buckwalter Brothers Grocery Store is a Wisconsin small-town family success story. Run by brothers August, Fritz, and Edmund, everything appears ideal on the surface. But after their father dies, a storm begins to brew. Guilt turns to depression and erratic behavior. Soon, no price is too great to pay for the sake of normalcy and the family honor. But sometimes, the cost isn’t demanded up front, and future generations are left with more lies to tell.

Modern Day: Leslie Wickersham has secrets to keep. Not only is she being blackmailed by her ex-husband, she’s also trying to keep her heritage hidden. As the great-niece of famous Wisconsin author, Fritz Buckwalter, family privacy is something to be guarded, especially when there are stories her grandmother does not want told. When Leslie’s new job at a university pairs her with the gruff Dr. Stafford, a biographer and “expert” on Fritz Buckwalter, her secrets come closer and closer to the surface. Especially when she learns to understand the man behind the harsh exterior. But relationships are built on trust, and there are more than enough lies going around. And if Leslie tells the truth, it will destroy the Buckwalter legacy.

Pros: What can be more Americana than a 1950s Midwest family-owned grocery store? There was a heavy dose of nostalgia that had me thinking of Jerry Apps, Lake Wobegon, and Mayberry. And yet, it wasn’t all sugar-coated memories. Tough subjects like mental health, fraud, and family politics turned this book from an ice cream treat to meat and potatoes. While I had everything figured out by the first third of the book, the tangled web of deception turned into such a rats nest I was anxiously reading to figure out how it would resolve.

Cons: I read a lot of historical fiction, so I naturally gravitated towards the 1950s chapters as opposed to the modern day storyline. I also read a lot of suspense, so the book felt very slow at first. It took until the last third for me to finally get hooked. Readers who love women’s fiction and other lower-octane genres shouldn’t have a problem, though.

Bottom Line: A serving of Midwest nostalgia with a side of family secrets.