The Girl in the Empty Dress - Paperback

by Rory Tate (Author), Lise McClendon (Author)

The sequel to the much-loved Blackbird Fly is here at last!

Merle Bennett is spending another summer in France, vacationing with her four sisters and one friend, lawyers all, tramping around the backroads of the Dordogne. The sixth member of their walking tour is a law colleague, Gillian Sargent. She hasn't made a good impression on the Bennett sisters, being annoying and secretive and upsetting the delicate karma of sisterhood. When Gillian finds an injured dog along the roadside and wants to keep it for her own, the idyllic summer trip of sisterly bonding and wine-drinking turns dark and dangerous. Who else is after this dog? Why is she so special? And what secret is Gillian Sargent keeping so close to her chest that her co-workers call her 'The Girl in the Empty Dress?'

Lise McClendon introduced Merle Bennett in Blackbird Fly, taking readers on a journey of self-discovery for Merle as her late husband's life opened up its secrets. He left her a stone house in the Dordogne he never mentioned, his family estate. Merle's efforts to fix up the abandoned ruin, extract a squatter, and discover the family secrets help her through her grief.

Now, back in this corner of southwest France of dark, oaky wine, rocky hills, foie gras and earthy truffles, she juggles sibling bickering, her teenage son, two boyfriends, and the law. All she wants is to unwind in the golden light of France. But France has a few tricks up its sleeves again. Thanks to a sad, dirty little dog and a woman with too many secrets.

Author Biography

Lise McClendon has made the Rocky Mountains her home for over thirty years. She published her first novel 20 years ago, The Bluejay Shaman, a mystery set in western Montana. Since then she has published ten more novels, in series and stand-alones. Her thrillers are published as Rory Tate, including Jump Cut and Plan X. She has served on the boards of several national and international crime writing organizations and is active in the Jackson Hole Writers Conference every summer.

"After more than twenty years of writing fiction the practice has become as natural and essential as breathing to me."