Safe as Churches

"Hello, lover." "You're not her. You're not Opal." The True Gentleman burns up the telephone lines searching for the woman who has seen through to his soul. But Opal has left the phone-sex trade, her identity a closely guarded secret. Elusiveness is not a quality her admirer prizes, and in his relentless pursuit of his perfect mate, the caller reveals he is no gentleman. Soon, the Oregon backwoods become a dumping ground for dismembered body parts. While hiking, Paige Rowan discovers a human foot, still wearing a distinctive toe ring, a ring Paige recognizes. She conceals her true connection to the victim from the police and her new lover, an ex-seminarian. Later, when a human skeleton is found on Paige's property, she is terrified. The police are stymied--the bones belong not to a phone actress, but a young man. A complex web of events threatens to topple the life that Paige has struggled to build. A breakaway religious sect, the obsessive search for Opal, and too many secrets and lies collide in a gripping finale set against a rugged landscape that will be forever changed.