Series: Vera Boyett (#3)
Format: 319 pages, Paperback
Release Date: December 9, 2025
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
From USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb comes crime analyst Vera Boyett’s next case—a triple homicide that tears a small town apart…and an accident that could do worse to her family.
A cabin in the woods. Three dead, one in critical condition. Property owned by not just any Tennessee local, but one of the richest men in the country.
Vera Boyett isn’t quite sure what it means. But that’s why Sheriff Gray “Bent” Benton called her: to figure it out. Criminal analysis is what she does best. Even when the town is in panicked shambles, even when the case is more delicate than most…and even when it’s not the only case on her plate.
Vera’s family is caught in a deadly mess of its own. And while her pregnant sister seems an unlikely culprit, each new detail seems to point to her guilt. Desperate to protect her, Vera vows to find out what really happened.
As evidence emerges in both cases, Vera and Bent work to unravel a dangerous web of secrets to get to the truth. But their investigations reveal more than they ever expected…
Secrets You Can't Keep is the third installment in author Debra Webb's Vera Boyett series. The book introduces the two storylines: one of the multiple murders at the cabin of the area’s local billionaire and the second, the death of the mother-in-law of Vera’s little sister, Luna. Vera, now a Crime Scene Analyst Consultant in Tennessee, works with Sheriff Bent on the murder investigation of Thomas Wilton and two of his guests. The story is told through the eyes of Vera, Bent, Luna, and a fourth character I won't spoil.
Upon arriving at the scene of the murder of Thomas Wilton and two other guests, Vera discovers that Alicia is still alive (even though she will spend most of the novel in a coma and as a suspect, since a murder weapon was found under her body). The death toll and the number of suspects grow the deeper Bent and Vera get into the investigation, and the more twisted the story becomes. Vera, who is very intuitive, knows she's being played and ends up getting hurt.
Simultaneously, Vera soon discovers that she has another death on her hands when she learns that her younger sister Luna found her husband's mother, Jackie, dead at the bottom of the stairs when Luna returned from the store. Her sister, Luna, is very pregnant with her first child and the innocent sister in the Boyett family. Allegedly, Jackie attacked Luna, who managed to survive with a few bruises. To make matters more twisted, Luna's father-in-law had a massive heart attack at the time of Jackie's murder.
Vera, Eve, and Luna have been hounded by something that happened many years ago, while Luna seems to be the only sister untouched by those events, Vera and Eve know the community knows they don't have clean hands. We also have the deepening relationship between Vera and Bent, which ends up in a comfortable position by the time the story ends. Like Bent, I have said this before, and I will say it again, Vera always seems to put her own life on the line, and sometimes ends up hurt. Lastly, I am not sure if this is the last in the series, which it appears to be, but one of the storylines wasn't finished as far as I am concerned, and no, I am not going to spoil what happens.
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