Where Secrets Lie by Colleen Coble, Rick Acker Series: Tupelo Grove #2
Published by Thomas Nelson on June 3, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Christian / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Amateur Sleuth, Fiction / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
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USA TODAY bestselling romantic suspense author Colleen Coble and Rick Acker deliver the second book in their compelling Tupelo Grove series (following What We Hide), where a crumbling university, stolen artifacts, deep family secrets, and deadly ambitions all stand in the way of a second chance at happiness.
College professor Savannah Webster is ready to give her ex-husband, Hez, another chance, and she believes he's finally ready for them to face their many past trials as a team. But when Savannah finds evidence that points to Hez's old demons resurfacing, the fragile trust they've built begins to crumble. And it's not just their relationship that hanging in the balance--the survival of the university Savannah's family poured their lives into is also under threat.
Hez is determined to put his past mistakes behind him with his new role mentoring law students at Tupelo Grove University's legal clinic. His primary focus with the clinic is to help Savannah pull the university out of a pit of debt and bad decisions made by the previous leadership, including her father. But their quest for stability takes a dark turn as they try to root out the dangerous smuggling ring the university is entangled in, and their investigation puts them in the crosshairs of criminals who will stop at nothing to eliminate any obstacle in their path.
The twists continue until the final page as a dangerous world of smuggling and financial instability collides with the complex dynamics of legacy and family.
Colleen Coble and Rick Acker's Where Secrets Lie is gripping suspense with closed-door, second-chance romance. "With an unpredictable plot, complex characters, and a college campus that holds dark secrets, this mystery will keep you guessing." (Robert Dugoni).
Looking for more from these authors? Don't miss What We Hide, the first book in the Tupelo Grove series, or the standalone novel I Think I Was Murdered. All their novels include discussion questions that are perfect for book clubs.
If you haven’t read my review of What We Hide click that link because we are picking up where we left off in the mission to read the third book in this series that just came out for the Christian Fiction Reading Challenge March read. So far, the first two books have irritated me, kept me glued to the headset, and sent my brain on a mission to unravel all the twists and turns. I’m going to do my absolute best to not reveal any spoilers!
This book was a tad more romancy than the last one and I get it they are still in love getting married again yada yada yada. I fits for the people but was only a minor distraction from the rest and I feel like it will show up in the next book as well as I do hope they do get married. . . again. As part of that romance-y trip they try couples counseling and I hear way too much about childhood trauma over a couple of chapters and then it’s almost like that never happened as it doesn’t ever come up again like a lost sock. Obviously communication remains an issue with these two just from this alone. It felt more like filler than progression and I feel like it could have been used better in the progression especially as things heat up. The other thing that irritates me, but I totally get, is the background work that never gets shared until BOOM here you go. I mean Hez did some serious background work on things I can’t tell you but it was so in the shadows that when all was wrapped up neatly (not the story just a thread) it felt like it was made up as there wasn’t anything to really flesh it out for me. It worked, I didn’t totally despise it, but leaves me feeling a bit unrealistic that it could happen without threads showing up. But, here we are.
Here’s the real deal and gah there is so much I can’t spill because spoilers but yes the cliff that was left in the first book completely plays out in ways you don’t see coming. This book leaves you with a similar cliff. Honestly, it’s a slow burn to a traditional southern family squabble with lives on the line. Kinda like a sophisticated Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. If it was surrounded by a university, wealth and privilege, along with a dose of intrigue. If I’m honest with myself I love these folks and their situation with the things that irritate me. The irritation keeps me humble but also keeps them real. Threads end unexpectedly – I mean who kills a major player in the middle?!? – but then that leads to more to unravel and I remain on the edge of my seat while still yelling really?!? in my head (or out loud maybe sometimes). I’m so completely engaged that I don’t see how this can wrap up in one more book. I guess I’m about to find out.
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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