Stolen Dreams
by Helen Ellenor

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Senior nurse Ellie is just two weeks away from the early retirement that she and her husband, Thomas, spent many years planning. But three years ago, Thomas disappeared on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, shattering Ellie’s dream of travelling the world with him in their golden years. When the head nurse at a new in vitro clinic suddenly quits and Ellie is asked to come to the rescue, she jumps at the chance of a new beginning despite sensing that something is wrong at the clinic. Soon her misgivings are confirmed. When embryos start disappearing, everyone becomes a suspect, including the clinic’s handsome but mercurial medical director and the jittery hospital supervisor, but Ellie is determined to use her amateur sleuthing skills to solve the mystery. Her old friends Laine, Kat, and Debra are eager to help, but each has a dangerous secret that ties them to the criminals despite their best intentions. As secrets and stolen dreams intersect, a shocking network of lies and guilt leads Ellie and her friends toward a seemingly unavoidable disaster. Will Ellie’s growing feelings for dashing, widowed Detective Matt Logan help or hinder? When her sleuthing puts Ellie into mortal danger, can the detective’s burgeoning romantic interest save the day? And perhaps most important of all, will the couples who have trusted their future to a new technology recover their stolen dream of starting families of their own? Stolen Dreams is an intriguing and timely story that will appeal to both romance and mystery fans and challenge readers to ponder some of the urgent ethical and technical risks of in vitro.

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Helen Ellenor is a retired registered nurse who worked in neo-natal intensive care for 30 years. She enjoys keeping up with new medical technology and has a special interest in the issues raised by in vitro. Helen lives in a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta, with her husband of 51 years and their dog, Libby. Like Ellie, she has four children and nine grandchildren who visit often.

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Contributors

Author

Helen Ellenor

Photographer

Dan Carter