The Broken Fence Line: BOOK SEVENTEEN - (2016) (Whispering Pines 17)
About
THE BROKEN FENCE LINE
A Whispering Pines Thriller
Book 17 of the Whispering Pines: 24 Years, 24 Secrets series
In Whispering Pines, some boundaries are meant to hold cattle.
Others are meant to hold people back.
When a longtime ranch owner is found dead near a collapsed fence line, the town assumes the truth is obvious. A decades-old feud. A familiar rivalry. An ending everyone expected would arrive sooner or later.
Retired sheriff’s deputy Ray Cooper knows better.
Pulled reluctantly back into the edges of an investigation he no longer officially belongs to, Ray recognizes patterns others dismiss as coincidence. Fence damage that doesn’t behave like weather. Ground that tells a quieter story than witnesses do. Assumptions that arrive far too quickly—and settle far too comfortably.
As Ray follows the land instead of the rumors, he uncovers connections to incidents he handled years ago, back when keeping the peace often meant letting small things slide. Decisions made with good intentions. Conflicts smoothed instead of examined. Warnings quietly ignored.
Now someone has learned how to use that silence.
What first appears to be a tragic accident reveals itself as something far more deliberate—a crime shaped by familiarity, inheritance, and a confidence built over time. As the thaw exposes buried truths, Ray is forced to confront not only who is responsible for the death, but how his own past choices may have helped make it possible.
The Broken Fence Line is a slow-burn, atmospheric mystery about legacy, land, and the quiet danger of assuming nothing will ever change. There are no monsters here. No supernatural answers. Only people—flawed, patient, and capable of learning exactly how far they’re allowed to go.
This is a story about what happens when boundaries fail.
And what happens when they never mattered as much as people believed.
Why You’ll Love This Book
• A retired lawman with unfinished reckoning
Ray Cooper isn’t chasing glory or redemption—he’s facing the weight of decisions he thought were settled long ago.
• Psychological suspense instead of shock value
The tension builds through silence, land, and implication—not gore, profanity, or spectacle.
• The land as a living witness
Fence lines, thawing soil, and shifting ground reveal what people work hard to keep buried.
• A fully self-contained mystery
One year. One crime. One resolution—no cliffhangers, no unresolved cases.
• Quiet, chilling realism
Every motive is human. Every action is possible. Every consequence lingers.
• Perfect for fans of slow-burn rural mysteries
If you love character-driven suspense, small-town secrets, and stories that trust the reader’s intelligence, this book delivers.
About the Whispering Pines Series
Whispering Pines: 24 Years, 24 Secrets is an atmospheric mystery saga told across twenty-four books, each covering a single year in the life of a small mountain town. Every novel features a different point-of-view character, a complete stand-alone mystery, and emotional echoes that carry forward as the town changes, ages, and remembers.
There are no recurring cases and no overarching conspiracy—only the long shadow of choices made, silences kept, and truths that eventually surface.
Clean, grounded, and deeply human, this series is written for readers who prefer tension over violence, atmosphere over chaos, and stories that stay with them long after the final page.
Step back into Whispering Pines.
The fence may be repaired—but the ground remembers everything.