River Thaw: Book Four (Whispering Pines 4)

RIVER THAW
Whispering Pines: 24 Years, 24 Secrets — Book Four
By TRUDY MYRLAND

When the ice breaks, the past doesn’t stay buried.

Spring arrives late in Whispering Pines. Snow still clings to the banks. The river runs high, fast, and unforgiving—carrying with it everything winter tried to hide.

Seventeen-year-old Brady Holt is fishing the familiar bend of the river when his line snags on something it shouldn’t. At first, he thinks it’s debris pulled loose by the thaw.

It isn’t.

What surfaces from the water is human—and it’s only the beginning.

Authorities move quickly to contain the discovery. The bones are old. The death isn’t recent. The town assures itself this is history, not danger. Something unfortunate, long ago, finally revealed by spring runoff.

But Brady can’t let it go.

The remains awaken memories he’s tried not to examine—moments from years earlier, half-seen and half-forgotten, when he was just a kid watching from the riverbank. Things he didn’t understand then. Things no one ever asked him about.

As more fragments emerge downstream, it becomes clear the river isn’t revealing a single tragedy. It’s unraveling a pattern. And someone in Whispering Pines knows exactly who those bones belong to.

Brady’s quiet determination puts him on a collision course with people who have lived comfortably with silence for a very long time. Warnings arrive without words. Friendly advice turns sharp. The message is unmistakable: stop asking questions.

But the thaw has already started.

With Sheriff Tom Ellery weighing the cost of reopening old wounds and Deputy Marla Dean noticing connections others dismiss, the investigation edges forward—slowly, reluctantly—while Brady finds himself watched in ways that make the open outdoors feel suddenly claustrophobic.

The river keeps giving back what was taken.
And the town must decide whether it will finally look.

River Thaw is an atmospheric, coming-of-age mystery about memory, guilt, and the danger of truths uncovered too late to be undone. Set against icy water, mud-slicked banks, and the uneasy transition between winter and spring, this novel explores what happens when a child witness grows up—and realizes what he saw mattered all along.

This isn’t a story about sudden violence.
It’s about accumulation.
About what time preserves.
And what it eventually refuses to hold.

In Whispering Pines, secrets don’t disappear.
They wait.

Why You’ll Love River Thaw

1. A powerful young POV unlike typical mysteries
Brady Holt isn’t a detective—he’s a teenager forced to confront the weight of memory, responsibility, and truth before he’s ready.

2. The river as a living force
Spring thaw isn’t background—it’s the engine of the story. Water reveals, erases, and endangers, shaping every discovery.

3. Slow-burn, clean suspense
No gore. No profanity. No shock tactics. Just steadily escalating tension grounded in realism and atmosphere.

4. A mystery that honors consequence
This is about what happens years after a crime—and the people who lived their lives knowing, but not speaking.

5. A richly connected series world
River Thaw stands completely on its own while deepening the emotional fabric of Whispering Pines, rewarding both new and returning readers.

Perfect for fans of small-town mysteries, atmospheric suspense, character-driven crime, and stories where the land itself tells the truth.

Winter kept its secrets.
Spring refuses to.

Welcome back to Whispering Pines.
The river is rising—and it remembers everything.