The Bargeman's Silence

Some skills are easier to teach than to unlearn.

At fifty-two, Hanna Croft is one of the most respected barge captains on Thornwick’s canals. She’s spent her whole life believing that if she provides, protects, and solves problems, that’s the same as love.

When cargo begins vanishing from locked barge holds, the suspicion is tearing the barge community apart. Worse, her estranged daughter Liss was the one who discovered the theft pattern. Now Liss is being blamed as a traitor, and Hanna must choose: protect her standing among the captains, or stand with the daughter who left her four years ago.

The investigation forces mother and daughter to work together for the first time. As Hanna traces the thefts through lock schedules and manifests, she begins to see what she’s missed. The mystery has an answer. The harder question is whether Hanna can learn the difference between being needed and being wanted.