I have not read any of the Stone books but I do enjoy the character and you seem to have grab Faith character well. The mystery is intriguing and i want to know more

Really enjoying this story. Please update soon I'm being forced to re read it every few days, lol . Really, excellent job

"I should probably apologize for my snarky reference to Chappaquiddick and politicians, I couldn't help myself."

Hey, you'll cross that bridge when you come to it. :-) :-) :-)

From the POV of the police, Faith has already been connected, in one way or another, to two different murders (her aunt and cousin). The absolute last thing she should do is go after Florence herself. She needs to keep a low profile for now, which I agree isn't her usual method.

Having the minis around will be interesting; I assume Faith will be their legal guardian and hasn't yet realized all the implications of that.

Overall, this is a very good chapter, which moves the story along very well. I look forward to more.

Curiouser and curiouser. I get that Faith's instinctive reaction is not to involve the police - but I agree with the previous reviewer that it might have been a good idea in this case (of course, the chief could be one of the bad guys, so maybe not). It looks like Charity and Randy are acting as unwitting agents of somebody else; and the somebody else has some connection to Faith's world, because Faith's aunt was apparently killed by a vamp (which could be faked, but why ?). Stone should be looking into who inherits if Faith dies. Charity would be one possibility, or Hope if she's still alive. Looking forward to more.

Huh, the way you wrote chapter 8, I thought it was a professional hit. Appear out of the crowd, give no sign of intent in body language or tone of voice, ask distracting question, slip knife into liver, dissapear back into the crowd as target dies.

This is a great story. I do have some critiques though. In terms of plot, this story is getting more and more implausable, this chapter being the latest.
-Why not call the police on the assult? Human on human is their realm, and the wound can be described as a near-miss. (Hey sherrif, good news. I prevented another murder on your turf. Bad news, it was my own.)
-Why does this Randy officer have any credibality at all still? Or not killed by someone else just for stupidty?
-Tech note, lawyers can act as officers of the law when needed. They are advised not to because their skill sets are in a diffrent area. But Stone could have arrested Charity right there and then, and have it all sorted out at the local station.

Ok, looking at the third one I can see why Stone didn't. But I hope the next chapter is more police interest and involvement in this growing series of implausable concidences. So far nothing really supernatural has been seen, but how Aunt Helen died, and her interest in the supernatural.

She has a sister? And her name is Charity? Not a name that says got a knife and will kill you.

Holy Moley. Amazing job. Just found this story and it completely sucked me in -now I have to go find Stone Barrington books and hope those will hold me over until you update. And what a cliffhanger! I can't wait to read the next chapter.

And we meet the sister. IN a not so friendly way. Looks like Faith, despite everything, is in the money.

Thanks for writing

With the Watchers connection, I'm wondering if either Hope or Charity were actually mistakenly taken by the Council in place of Faith?

And yes, I know Faith said Hope died, but she was a little kid and it could have been faked.

Holy convoluted conspiracies !!! We've got wheels within wheels here.

You've obviously put a LOT of thought into this chapter; it moves the story along well and opens up even more questions. The writing style is very good. You've got Faith's and Xander's "voices" exactly right, and watching Faith adjust to her new circumstances is a lot of fun.

My best guess at the moment - Faith's sister, either alone or with others (there seems to be at least one vamp involved), is trying to get control of the estate, or something that's part of the estate, like a book or artifact that has some mystical significance, or the land itself may have mystical significance. The conspirators haven't exactly been subtle about it, but they're very proactive, and very dangerous. The knife that was used on Faith may well be linked to some other crime; Faith should either get rid of it or turn it over to the police chief right now - if she waits, her wound will heal up and she won't be able to prove that she was attacked, which is the only way to explain how she got the knife in the first place.

To be fair, she only promised no murders, nothing about knifings. Gee, for once she's the victim? And it's kid sis?? Maybe she wants to inherit? Blames her for something? Or is just plain like the 'old Faith'? i.e. evil.
Good thing Xander was there to witness & call an ambulance and all that.
Letters from Travers--should have read them first thing. There's a huge mystery here; Aunt connected to the Council somehow. Tract of land in Boston; (yet her mother had no money?!); murder by vamp, etc.
Maybe it's time to send a few slayers to support Faith a bit?
* If someone is suspected of murder, can they still inherit the money of the victim? Doesn't it get frozen? Or am I thinking of insurance money? Probably the latter, that would get frozen if the ins. company had the slightest suspicion of murder for insurance money.
I'm really curious why her Aunt never told her anything. Maybe the whole "was evil, spent time in jail" thing?

No new updates after that cliffhanger? :(

The next three chapters are 90% complete. I'm not entirely happy with any of them yet, but I am planning to get the next chapter done and posted this weekend.

Nice story. Noticed a 'blooper' re: Faith's memory - in chapter 4 have this conversation:
"Yes, Bill Eggers filled me in." We stopped by a very expensive looking Mercedes. Stone held the passenger door open for me and said, "I'll take you back to your house while we talk."

"This is one nice ride," I said.

"Yeah, it's a Mercedes E55 AMG.

"Nice."

In chapter 6 have:
We stopped by an expensive looking Mercedes. I said, "Your car? Nice."

Stone said, "Mecedes E55 with the hot engine." He held the passenger door open for me. I couldn't remember the last time a man did that for me.

It is impossible for Randy to have been in the house unless he was the killer or his accomplice.
Aunt Helen appears to have been killed by a vampire or it is made to look that way (though no mention of exsanguination).
That could be the local slayer appearing at the end or someone/something different.

Stone's having sex with his client, Faith, seems a breach of professional ethics, especially when he is currently representing her in a murder case. Does he do this sort of thing in the novels?

Oops, I had forgotten that I had mentioned the car before.

As far as the rest, I actually know where I'm going with the plot, so all will eventually be explained.

And Stone does indeed sleep with almost every woman who wanders into the book, including clients. The truth of the matter is the Stone Barrington books are not deep explorations of the human condition, but are amusing little mysteries that suffer if analyzed too much. I still like the series though.

Actually, what you are quoting as 'Britspeak' here doesn't ring true to me. It's just plain bureaucratic weasilyness which doesn't sound like Giles at all to me, nor is is British 'understatement' in the least. When we say "We're having a slight difficulty here" we mean "The enemy have us surrounded and we're out of ammunition". When we say "This may prove unpopular with the voters, Minister" we mean "They'll be lynching you within six months if this goes through, Matey." It's the Americans you have to watch for really hypocritical doubletalk. "Your call is important to us" and "Our employees are our greatest asset" weren't invented this side of the Atlantic! Enjoying this very much though, despite the criticism.

Yeah, on reflection I think you're right, it doesn't really sound like Giles. I can only plead that he is tired and not getting enough sleep and has been dealing with bureaucrats and old retired watchers, and was so delighted to find someplace to park a few of his excess slayers that he really didn't think about what he was saying. And he probably hasn't shed the bad habits he picked up from his time in the states.