On Tall Pine Lake

On Tall Pine Lake is a 2007 romantic suspense novel written by Dorothy Garlock (1919–2018) and published by Warner Books. Set in the fictional community of Home, Arkansas, the book was Garlock’s fiftieth published novel. Garlock, a Texas native who lived most of her life in Iowa, had previously authored two other novels with an Arkansas setting: Dream River and Yesteryear, both in her Wabash River series of historical romances.

On Tall Pine Lake opens in 1980 with twenty-six-year-old Nona Conrad preparing to move, along with her fourteen-year-old sister Maggie, away from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to take a job at Tall Pine Camp in the town of Home, which Garlock places “at the foot of the Ozark Mountains in the southwestern part of the state,” where the Ouachita Mountains would, in fact, be located. (The name “Home” may be a play on the name of Hope in Hempstead County.) As Nona is packing, she receives a package from her half brother, Harold, with a note begging her not to open it, adding, “I promise that I will have your money and Maggie’s from our father’s estate soon.”

Nona is followed to Tall Pine Lake by family friend “Aunt Mabel” Rogers. When Nona meets Simon Thomas Wright, the new owner of the camp, she is convinced that she had met him previously but cannot remember where. Simon has plans to expand the camp and exhibits a great deal of overprotectiveness before telling Nona that her half-brother Harold is his cousin. Harold had stolen a significant amount of money and jewelry from the bank where he worked (which was owned by Simon’s grandfather) and disappeared. Simon is worried that some of Harold’s “shady” associates might come after Nona and Maggie and so arranged for Nona to be informed about a job opportunity at the camp. But Nona remains distrustful and does not tell him about the package from Harold.

Two men, Frank and Webb, have set up in a cabin across the lake, from which they can watch Nona and Maggie. They are working with a third man, Ernie, whose pregnant wife, LeeAnn Leasure, is housed in a cabin at the camp and is being used to try to get information from the sisters. However, Ernie is found beaten to death and floating in the lake soon after visiting his wife. LeeAnn is only minimally sad at her husband’s demise, having endured his abuse for two and a half years (minus the year he was in prison), and soon develops a rapport with Jack Grant, a carpenter hired by Simon.

Frank and Webb kidnap Maggie when she goes to the outhouse alone one evening. When threatening her does not make her reveal anything about Harold, they tie her to a tree, but she is cut free by a boy named Dusty Hathaway, who takes her to the cabin he shares with his parents, Avery and Denise. Frank is determined to kill one of the Conrad sisters, hoping that this lures Harold from hiding; Webb objects, and the two men spend several chapters bickering about what to do. Meanwhile, Nona finally tells Simon about the package she received from Harold; when they open it, they find bundles of money, along with a note assuring Nona that the money was not stolen but was the result of “clever investments from our father’s estate.”

Dusty returns Maggie home, but before the sheriff can send someone out to take her statement, a storm whips up. That night, after Nona and Simon declare their love for each other and have sex, he confesses that he has also been working for a detective agency hired by the bank from which Harold stole money. Upset, she runs out of Simon’s cabin, only to be grabbed by Frank and Webb, who also knock out Simon. Maggie comes running after Nona, and when Frank tries to shoot her, Webb strikes him, and as they fight, Nona flees. Frank catches up to her and tries to kill her, and when Webb intervenes again, Frank kills him. Simon, recovering, goes in pursuit. Meanwhile, LeeAnn goes into labor. Simon catches up to Frank and manages to kill him. Later, Simon concludes that Russ Story, the camp handyman who has been a minor character throughout, killed Ernie. Looking for the money, he threatens Simon, but Jack shoots him, and while he lies bleeding on the floor, Simon proposes to Nona.

The epilogue, set three years later, reveals that Harold’s body had been found in Kansas City. Simon, Nona (who is pregnant), and Aunt Mabel continue to live at the camp, expanding its operations, while Maggie and Dusty are both enrolled at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County).

Publishers Weekly described On Tall Pine Lake as “an edge-of-your-easy-chair thriller that romantic suspense junkies will not want to pass up.” However, Kirkus Reviews derided the book for its “laughable gangster dialogue and clichés galore.”

For additional information:
Garlock, Dorothy. On Tall Pine Lake. New York: Warner Books, 2007.

Review of On Tall Pine Lake. Kirkus Reviews. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dorothy-garlock/on-tall-pine-lake/ (accessed November 10, 2024).

Review of On Tall Pine Lake. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780446695329 (accessed November 10, 2024).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas