Bluebird Gold

After her father dies suddenly, the narrator leaves her own life behind and moves into his small cabin on a lake in Dalton, Montana. She plans to stay for the winter, settle his estate and say goodbye to a man who loved Montana legends. To fill the lonely days, she takes a temporary teaching job.

Clearing out the cabin should be simple, but the more she learns about her father's life, the more doubts she has about how he died. Strange clues he left behind point toward a lost legend of Montana gold. Friends back home urge her to sell the place and get on with things.

Then there is Sheriff Cosi Raynes. His son is one of her students, and his life is rooted in Montana while she means to end up somewhere else. She tries to keep her distance, but the pull between them is hard to deny, and he is hard to avoid while she digs into the mystery.

This is a romantic suspense novel told in first person, mixing a small-town winter setting with a treasure hunt and a slow-building attraction. The mood leans toward grief and healing, with real danger rising as someone in Dalton works to keep the truth buried, and she may pay with her life for pursuing it.