Everything in Emily Leland's life changed when she left Sweetwater Crossing, TX, after her wedding one year ago. Her husband and mother have since died, her pastor father has died by suicide, her youngest sister is traveling abroad, and her other sister blames Emily for everything. Trying to make ends meet while processing a load of grief, Emily opens her family's mansion, Finley House, to a motley collection of boarders. The town's new teacher, Craig Ferguson, and his young son find a haven there. Craig has radical (for the 1880s) ideas about teaching and classroom discipline, though, and soon earns the ire of the town's mayor. Meanwhile, death continues to stalk Sweetwater Crossing, as many elderly residents pass of seemingly natural causes. VERDICT Cabot (The Spark of Love) is becoming a must-buy. Her sensitivity and realistic portrayal of characters often on the margins of history really shine in this new historical series, which includes a child with Down syndrome, a domestic-abuse survivor, and a family impacted by suicide. Read-alikes can be found in the works of Melanie Dobson, Ann H. Gabhart, and Tamera Alexander.

Cabot (The Spark of Love) unravels the secrets of a Texas town in this intriguing late-1800s romantic mystery. After Emily Vaughn's abusive husband dies in a bar fight, she returns to her Texas hometown, eager to begin life anew. But disaster strikes on her first day back when her minister father dies by apparent suicide, while across town, the widowed Mrs. Carmichael's home burns down. Recalling Jesus's commandment to "care for widows and orphans," Emily offers shelter to Mrs. Carmichael and her boarders, and quickly becomes fond of kindhearted schoolmaster Craig Ferguson and his two-year-old son. Emily soon opens her large home as a boarding house, taking in the new minister's family and Beulah Douglas, a mentally disabled 12-year-old whom Craig welcomes into his school despite townspeople's protests, and whom Emily likewise defends as a child of God. But Beulah has some unexpected secrets that come to the surface as Craig and Emily seek the truth behind Emily's father's death--which she's convinced wasn't a suicide. As the two grow close, they uncover more beneath the town's placid surface than anticipated. Cabot skillfully links diverse plotlines in a tightly woven narrative, putting forth an uplifting message about the value of all human life that's moving without detracting from the plot's suspense. Readers will eagerly await the series' next installment. (Mar.)