Excerpt from This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

A crack of thunder snapped Arthur from his trance. He shuffled forward and offered Oneida his hand, which she shook.

"Nice to meet you." His voice was uneven, as though he hadn't used it in a while.

"Where did you say you were from, Mr. Rook?" Mona asked.

"Los . . . Angeles." Arthur Rook shrugged, anticipating Oneida's knee-jerk response, she realized, of So what the hell are you doing here? "I had to leave," he said. "I was tired of it." He shook his head. "You need a decoder ring to order a hamburger."

"Oh, come on," said Mona. "Everybody knows about the secret menu at In-n-Out."

At that, Arthur Rook's face turned ashen and his eyes lost their intense focus, flicked back and forth, shone. In the awkward silence that followed, Mona offered to show him his room and he agreed— a little too quickly, Oneida thought, for a man who claimed he was just tired. She wasn't sure which mystery bothered her more: what Arthur Rook was doing in Ruby Falls, or what her mother had said to make him look like he wanted to cry.

Excerpted from This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia. Copyright © 2010 by Kate Racculia. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.