SEARCH CONTINUES FOR MISSING MT. OLIVE GIRL...FEW LEADS IN
SEARCH FOR 11-YEAR-OLD...ABDUCTION CASE IN FOURTH WEEK. NO RANSOM
DEMANDS.

Merilee Graf has a lot of baggage left over from childhood,
including the nagging mystery of what happened to her fifth-grade
classmate. When Lilac Jemson went missing, the adults of Mt. Olive
took pains to shield the other children from learning about it ---
Merilee's parents among them; in fact, more fervently than most.
They avoided talking about it at all costs. To mention it or ask
why Lilac wasn't around anymore sent them into a near rage. Why all
the secrecy?

Sixteen years passed, and Lilac didn't surface. But Merilee never
forgot about her. Now, Merilee returns to her hometown. Her father
is gravely ill and she grapples with residual conflicting emotions.
Did her father ever really love her? Sometimes he seemed so cold.
She believes she was never the daughter he wanted, as her mother
was never the wife he wanted. Yet he could --- could --- act
warm and caring. Merilee was definitely a daddy's girl, while her
mother embarrassed her, sometimes to the point that she wished her
mother gone, dead, out of her life. Edith Graf had had some heavy
emotional issues to deal with. She was always there for Merilee ---
at least until her early demise --- but preoccupied with her own
problems for the most part. Was Merilee too harsh in her judgment
of her?

While her father lies listless in the local hospital, Merilee
brings him personal treasures from the family home, including a
heart-shaped magnifying glass that she bought for him one day. It
was a special gift, chosen with painstaking care. But he seems less
attached to it than she. For her, it is a symbol with a dual
meaning, and, when she discovers it's missing after he dies, her
mission to find out who took it becomes near obsession. Even the
hospital staff starts to grow somewhat hostile toward her endless
inquiries about it.

In her search for the missing heart, Merilee reconnects with a
brief flame from her past, Roosevelt Jemson --- Lilac's brother.
Over a decade and a half later, he still piques her curiosity. What
once might have been fizzled before it got started, now they both
have some lingering feelings to deal with over it.

Meanwhile, Jedah Graf, Merilee's "uncle," arrives for the funeral
services. Never her favorite, Merilee finds herself repulsed and
intrigued at the same time. But considering the majority of her
relatives, her attraction to Jedah --- a slick, manipulative, but
often comforting presence --- might be understandable. Plus, she is
weakened by the devastation in the wake of her loss. While Merilee
is working through her grief, secrets surface --- secrets no one
who has just lost a father should have to face.

Masterfully written, THE STOLEN HEART is not your typical mystery.
It's in large part a character study, with a look at the dark side
of people. That's no surprise, though, when you discover that
"Lauren Kelly" is a pseudonym for Joyce Carol Oates.