Title: Danger Lies Within (The Ranfurly Mysteries Book 1)
Author: K. M. Krenik
Publisher: Knox Works
ISBN: 9798990629639
Price: $13.99 paperback
Warning: You’re entering into an alternate world, one with characters you’ll fall for, lots of animals, handsome men who make our heroine doubt herself, and an alternate reality that echoes frightening possibilities in the real world.
Widowed Courtney Drake is our heroine, an independent woman and mother of two college-aged kids who finds purpose in living on ten acres with a cadre of animals that rely on her. She misses her murdered husband deeply. This acreage is her healing space, her safe place, the land where she and her husband Keith raised Nick and Laurel, who are entering their college years. Their home was a refuge in an alternate political world, one in which PAX, an authoritarian regime, has gained power, micro-chipped most of the world’s inhabitants, and puts down all who fight their abusive rule. The family has avoided micro-chipping by living on their acreage. But Keith’s murder at the hands of PAX haunts the family. Son Nick vows to fight PAX threatening to embed himself with the enemy. Daughter Laurel only wants to remain invisible and safe. Courtney fears for both her children, especially Nick. She also needs to find a way to keep the family home so seeks a way to earn a living now that she’s widowed. This opens the story of Danger Lies Within. Hers is a relatable story of widowhood.
Another voice enters. Lord Robert Ranfurly, a widower whose wife was murdered, lives in a manor on a secluded estate, more secluded even than Courtney’s home. He only hires unchipped help and he’s looking for a nanny for his 5-year-old twins, Luke and Elizabeth. While those working in his manor are unaware, readers learn that Ranfurly is part of CAPE, the rebel movement to overthrow PAX. He knows Nick and is working with him to change the political dynamic by living through CAPE’s principled oath: “Protect the helpless, keep order, be peacemakers, and bring offenders to justice. Leave vengeance to God.”
Conveniently Courtney applies to be Robert’s nanny for his twins. She’s hired by the very serious house manager without first meeting Robert who is away saving children and teens from the reprehensible trafficking of PAX.
When Courtney and Robert meet, attraction sparks overwhelming chemistry that neither Courtney or Robert was expecting. These feelings are complicated when Sean Knight, Robert’s chauffeur, demonstrates strong physical attraction to Courtney, which confuses her; that is, until he disappears.
As Courtney learns about the manor’s inner workings, she discovers the twins to be smart, creative, and delightful. She’s overseen by a stern housekeeper named Mrs. Stern. She uncovers secret passages, and is surprised by a nighttime visitor when Sean proves to be a spy, adept at climbing rose trellises onto her bedroom’s balcony.
Additional complications continue to make Courtney uncertain if she should stay at the manor. Within the first week of her nanny job, two employees are murdered. Courtney also learns dark secrets, revealing Robert’s deceased wife isn’t who he or the staff of Ranfurly Manor believe her to be, and staff who might be loyal to another cause. Is it possible, Robert is responsible for the staff deaths? Maybe even his wife’s death?
Perhaps Sean is secretly working for PAX. Courtney fears for her own life, the lives of her young charges, and worries about her own children, and all this is complicated by worry about the two dogs, multiple cats, ducks and chickens she’s left back at home.
The political and romantic intrigue built around nicely complex characters make this novel a page turner, one that draws readers deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Ranfurly Manor and its inhabitants.
While this is a dark romance complete with micro-chipping, drones, wild forests, and even a mention of dragon, it speculates on fascist governance that is all to real in our contemporary political rhetoric. The novel asks the questions, we might be asking ourselves. Would it be possible for current governing powers to micro-chip every member of their domain? Who would we trust in a politically volatile climate? And how would we defend ourselves against a cruel authoritarian government?
Courtney finds integrity to be her guide in this dystopian setup and that helps readers recognize there is a way to the other side, a place of more peaceful, ethical leadership. This page turner, with a cliffhanger ending, promises a sequel that readers will be clamoring to read. Hopefully then, readers will discover their way out of fascism and into finding Courtney’s true heart.
Reviewer: Ann Angel
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