What We Hide by Colleen Coble, Rick Acker Series: Tupelo Grove #1
Published by Thomas Nelson on February 19, 2026
Genres: Fiction / Christian / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Christian / Suspense, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth, Fiction / Religious, Fiction / Romance / Clean & Wholesome, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 368
Format: Audiobook
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"A heart-pounding tale of stolen artifacts and murder . . . the second-chance romance adds dimension to the well-plotted whodunit, which leaves more than a few secrets to be uncovered in the next installment. Readers will be on tenterhooks." --Publishers Weekly
For Savannah and Hez, a crumbling university, stolen artifacts, deep family secrets, and deadly ambitions all stand in the way of a second chance at happiness.
Savannah Webster is trying to find her way forward. She and her husband, Hez, have been separated since tragedy tore them apart and he began numbing his grief and guilt with alcohol. She returned to Tupelo Grove University, which her family helped found over a century ago, to teach history.
When Hez turns up in her classroom asking for a second chance, she rejects the idea immediately. But twenty-four hours later she's under suspicion for murder, and since Hez is the best attorney she knows, she reluctantly asks him for help. They suspect the murder is tied to someone selling off the university's pre-Columbian artifacts, but the secrets go much deeper than they realize.
The only hope they've got is each other, and they're going to have to put their past behind them if they're going to stay alive long enough to uncover all that's hidden.
Colleen Coble and Rick Acker's What We Hide is gripping suspense with closed-door, second-chance romance. They've "forged a seamless partnership with a singular voice" (Charles Martin), "where secrets simmer and unexpected twists leave you guessing until the shocking finale" (Kate Angelo).
Looking for more from these authors? Don't miss their standalone novel I Think I Was Murdered or continue the Tupelo Grove series with Where Secrets Lie (available now) and When Justice Comes (available March 2026). All their novels include discussion questions that are perfect for book clubs.
The March book for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge is the third in a series that comes out on the 3rd (also known as yesterday). I’ve got it all lined up ready to go but first I HAD to go back and read the first two books. That’s what you do right? Totally normal behavior? I mean April’s book is the 5th so here ya go! I’ve read Colleen Coble before and like her writing. Rick Acker was new to me but honestly I think I need to read his books too. I do like a good suspense/mystery/thriller afterall. But you didn’t come here to find out why I read this book so let’s get started.
Communication. You may (or may not) remember that the lack of communication that builds internal chaos irritates me. Especially when it overtakes so many other things. The divorce does that for me here. I get it, tragedy happened and you have been separated for years. He shows up and you tell him you have filed but then back out. And then carry on your own internal monologue about it forever. All the time. Questioning when he chooses to file. And you NEVER talk about it to each other. For chapter over chapter. You would think that with everything else going on it wouldn’t consume your every thought but here we are. Communication could probably solve a lot more things than this divorce but ya know. . . conflict has to happen. Maybe just keep it to the actual chaos.
While the twists and turns and herrings were predictable they weren’t. I know that doesn’t make sense but hear me out. You know there’s going to be a set-up or a red herring in these types of stories. That’s how to get drawn in. You can predict it’s going to happen. Some I saw but not in the way I should have seen which makes it unpredictable. And some, one big one honestly, I never in a million years saw coming! There were a few things I thought to easy, a few things that I thought could use more depth but all in all I was kept glued to my headset as I listened to this book. It kept me engaged and guess and that’s what makes a great mystery/suspense book. I didn’t know it all but I get led to it all. That is. . . until the closing epilogue where everything just got turned upside down again. And now, I honestly have no idea who to trust or what to believe. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow when I start listening to Where Secrets Lie. Overall a really great book that I can’t wait to delve in more and learn more and see these characters and this little town grow!
About Colleen Coble
Publishers Weekly and USAToday best-selling author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over six million books in print. When she’s not writing, Colleen is playing Pokemon Go! with the family or traveling to the locales where she sets her novels. She’s a perpetual learner and a natural health nut. Colleen was the CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers for nineteen years and still serves on the Executive Board. She lives with her husband Dave in Arizona so she can spoil her small grandsons. She’s praying her granddaughter chooses Arizona for college to keep her close too.
About Rick Acker
Rick writes novels during breaks from his “real job” as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, where he leads a team prosecuting corporate fraud lawsuits. Rick has authored or coauthored over a dozen acclaimed suspense novels.
When he’s not writing, he leads investigations and lawsuits that made headlines in and out of California. For example, he and his team won a string of record-breaking judgments and settlements against the Wall Street players who created the toxic mortgage securities that triggered the Great Recession. Before joining DOJ, Rick was a senior litigator at Bingham McCutchen, where he worked on high stakes litigation, including a fight between two owners of the San Francisco Forty-Niners and a multibillion dollar international fraud case. Rick studied at the University of Oslo and has a law degree from the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with honors. In addition to his novels, he is a contributing author on two legal treatises published by the American Bar Association.
Rick is a transplanted Chicagoan who spent thirty-five years in the Midwest before finally trading the certainty of winter and mosquitoes for the risk of earthquakes and wildfires. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Anette. They have four adult children.
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