Days & Hours

I'd like to tell you today about my friend Susan Meissner and her latest book. If you haven't read Susan, I think you're gonna love her!


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Back Cover Copy: Readers of suspense fiction will once again be enthralled with the latest entry in the compelling series featuring attorney Rachael Flynn and her continuing cast of intriguing characters.

A newborn is found alive in a trash bin and a young, single mother insists her baby was abducted. While St. Paul police are skeptical, attorney Rachael Flynn’s strange dreams lead her to believe the mother is telling the truth. But who would steal a baby only to leave it for dead?

When the baby disappears again, Rachael agonizes over her decision to allow the baby to be returned to his mother. Did she make a terrible mistake? And where is that missing baby? Who would wish the child harm? Rachael races to see past the deception that threatens to send a young mother to prison and a newborn to a terrible fate.

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (September 1, 2007)

I've asked Susan to tell us more about this book:

Days & Hours is the third installment of the Rachael Flynn mystery series. My heroine is a 30-year-old defense attorney-turned-prosecutor who works in the Ramsey County Attorneys office in St. Paul, MN. She lives in a loft apartment across the river in Minneapolis (and she used to travel that bridge that collapsed!!) with her artist husband, Trace. Trace has a circle of highly artistic friends, one in particular named Fig, who help her pick apart crime scenes by sketching possible scenarios. With their help and her gift-like insights into the human condition, Rachael assists St Paul homicide detective, Will Pendleton, solve tough cases.

When I was a guardian ad litem for the state of Minnesota, I was introduced to the world of the single mother who lives in poverty, dependent on the state, and often woefully unprepared for motherhood. I delved into that world in Days & Hours, paying particular attention to the stigma we place on the stuck-on-welfare mom. They are not a one-size fits all demographic. Some cannot find success no matter how hard they try. Some simply don’t try. Most love their children as best they can. Many know it takes more than love to raise a child, but they have no other resources at their disposal. I don’t pretend to offer answers, just raise awareness.

The other titles in this series are Widows & Orphans (2006) and Sticks & Stones (2007). Widows & Orphans is a current finalist for the ACFW Book of the Year.

Here’s what one early reviewer said of Days & Hours: (Kelly Kelpfer, Novel Reviews)

Days and Hours is tragic, beautiful, awful and realistic. Susan Meissner has done it again. This is the first of her Rachael Flynn series that I've read, and I will be picking up those I've missed. Meissner writes with depth and compassion, honesty, and a poignancy that wraps around the reader, bringing her characters to life in the reader's imagination.


Rachael's life, like so many real women, becomes intertwined with her job. Bad enough. But when the job is gut-wrenching on bad days and difficult on good ones, Rachael is faced with choices beyond what most women are forced to consider. Several moments in the book go beyond "just a good story" into soul-tweaking. . .

Looking for an author who produces great book after great book? Meissner needs to be on your check it out list.

And from Colleen Coble:

“My first Susan Meissner novel, Days and Hours, won’t be my last. This enthralling mystery kept me up way too late and made me look at single moms in a whole new way. Rachael Flynn is a heroine I won’t soon forget. Highly recommended!”

Susan's blog: http://susanmeissner.blogspot.com
Her website: www.susanmeissner.com