Deanna Lynn Sletten

Deanna Lynn Sletten works across historical fiction, romance, women-centered stories, and crime mysteries, often making family secrets central to a character’s search for belonging. The Truth About Rachel opens her Rachel Emery mystery series. Rachel Scott Emery discovers an old report claiming that she died at eight and that her teenage brother caused her death, even though she is alive thirty-five years later. She returns from Tallahassee to Casita, California, to learn why another child lies in the grave carrying her identity. Opening the sequence in 2021, the story continues through Death Becomes You and All the Pretty Girls. Sletten’s broader catalogue includes the Lake Harriet books, Mrs. Winchester’s Biographer, and The Women of Great Heron Lake. The Truth About Rachel marks a clear move into continuing mystery while retaining her interest in family history and emotional consequence. Its puzzle depends not only on identifying a past crime but also on understanding who shaped Rachel’s childhood story and why.