The Singing Stones - Ria Quinn Mysteries, #3

A consciousness-raising group is holding their retreat at the Merlyn Inn. Their plan for a fire ceremony in the meadow across Druid Lane makes innkeeper Deidre frantic, until Ria agrees to help. When a lute-player she meets at the retreat persuades Ria to join him in exploring an ancient boulder field behind the inn, he shows her how the stones ring in bell-like tones when tapped with a hammer. While clambering over the field, they are shocked to discover the bludgeoned body of a man in a business suit, a hammer beside him that has been used for much more than tapping on the stones.

Amateur archaeologist that she is, Ria wants to know why he was digging in that field. Is it possible the River Writers club staying at the inn knows what is going on? She has never met a quirkier group of people. What about their leader, who knows too much about Ria? There's no chance to find out. After the fire ceremony, amidst celebrations inside the inn, he is found murdered.

The fire ceremony itself haunts her. Ria joins the drumming circle, surrounded by high posts topped with flaming torches, the dark woods behind as a backdrop. It is mesmerizing. So often while exploring archaeological digs, she had imagined living in the prehistoric times the digs revealed. With the drumming, she feels suddenly as if she has come close.

Seeing a phone video of a hooded figure digging through the boulder field, Ria and friends go there and witness the same figure, only to end up scaring him away. Yet her presence and her constant questions have awakened someone else's curiosity. Whoever it is wants whatever the stones are hiding, and Ria knows he is not done yet. She feels safe in her home with her precious golden retriever Hailey at her side—but is she?