Past and present merge in Christine Trent's latest installment of The Heart of St Mary's County.

Diane Alvey is a public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy's Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Her latest project is creating a History Hall to document the air station's 1940s origins. What she never expected to find was a hidden room - or to uncover a secret stash of papers and ephemera, which includes Frances Parker's World War II diary.

Frances Parker is a brand-new member of the U.S. Navy WAVES: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Along with dozens of other women, she is attempting to navigate her way through life during dangerous and uncertain times.

It is August 1943, and war has come to St. Mary's County. The newly built air station is home to aircraft and ordnance testing, as well as a growing population of workers coming together to defeat a common enemy.

It is also home to murder.

When someone close to Frances is found dead, everyone around her is convinced that it is an accident...or so they say. But Frances is suspicious of the people who want to quickly sweep the death away. What are they trying to hide?

As Frances attempts to uncover who committed such a violent deed, her life is threatened and a dire warning issued.

Intrigued by Frances's riveting story, Diane sets about trying to learn why someone may have been murdered during the early days of the naval base's construction - and who was responsible for it.

When Diane unveils the shocking truth, she learns that she's not the only one who knows what happened all those years ago...and someone will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from getting out.

Mystery and intrigue at its finest! 5-star read!!