Her Father’s Secret

Blaedel’s grim sequel to 2018’s The Undertaker’s Daughter takes Ilka Jensen from Denmark to Racine, Wis., to inherit her estranged and now deceased father’s failing funeral home. The last funeral held at the home is for a woman who was shot in her own house, and Ilka learns that the murder victim was blackmailing Ilka’s father for 20 years. As Ilka tries to understand why her father mysteriously abandoned her over 30 years earlier, she meets a handful of his friends and enemies, including his cold ex-wife (not Ilka’s mother) and his best friend, who has been accused of felony fraud. Blaedel does a fine job of fleshing out each of these characters, and readers will enjoy watching Ilka transform from frustrated and confused to utterly confident in her sleuthing as she discovers some of her father’s painful secrets. Several questions remain unanswered. Nevertheless, the book’s cliffhanger ending will make readers look forward to the next set of secrets for Ilka to unravel. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Mar.)