Murder in a Small Town

Wendy L. Young's debut novel, "Come the Shadows" is the first installment of the Campbell Creek series.  The story is set in the small town of Campbell Creek, North Carolina which lies in the shadow of Wilmington.  It's a quiet close-knit community that hasn't had a murder in seventeen years.  Until now.

Officer Will Harmon goes to investigate the skeleton that is found at the long defunct bread factory.  His sister Jessica is the medical examiner and her examination of the remains leads to a conclusion of murder.  The sheriff has other ideas and reports the death as natural causes. Jessica continues to pursue the murder investigation with the off the record help of her brother and his partner Ricky.

There are land developers in town buying up property, including the bread factory for a big, as yet undisclosed development.  As the neighbors start selling out rapidly, Laura, Will's wife, becomes concerned for the future of their community and begins to fight the developers.  When mysterious fires erupt and Laura's life is threatened there is no telling how deep the mystery lies.

This is a great mystery that starts a little slow but once it takes off it will keep the pages turning rapidly.  The characters are real, charming and sometimes humorous.  The relationships amongst the characters are well developed and draw you in.

I, for one, am looking forward to the second installment!

Rollicking Good Fun

I just finished "Red Mojo Mama", by Kathy Lynn Hall and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Lydia "Red" Talbot, has just inherited a mobile home park in Northern California from her dear aunt.  Still recovering from the loss of her husband/soul mate three years prior, Red moves to California intending to sell the mobile home park and put the proceeds to traveling adventures.

Once there, however, she becomes caught up in the lives of the park's occupants.  They are a delightful mix of quirky characters with tales of their own.  In an effort to put her time to good use she takes a job with the local paper as a reporter.  Her first assignment is to cover the local city council meeting.  There she discovers corruption and greed which leads her on and investigative mission to save the town from the shysters.

It is a fun story that has romance, intrigue, laughter, tears and a wonderful cast of well drawn characters.  The pacing keeps you turning the pages to see what will happen next.  I love "Red" and hope to hear more from her in the future.  A must read if you enjoy a great female lead that's real and relate-able.

All About Secrets

A recent read was "A Secret Kept" by Tatiana de Rosnay (author of Sarah's Key - now in theaters).  I'd read "Sarah's Key" last year and found the story compelling and engrossing.  "A Secret Kept" was not quite at the same level but still a very good read.

The story begins when Antoine surprises his sister, Melanie, with a trip to Noirmoutier for her fortieth birthday.  Noirmoutier is an island in France where the family had vacationed each summer up until 1973.  The mother died shortly after that last trip.  She disappeared from her children's lives after her death because she was never spoken of by any of the family and all her pictures disappeared.  The mystery is why this was so.

During the weekend trip Melanie's memory is triggered and she is troubled by her memories.  As she is about to tell Antoine what she remembered on the way home she loses control of the car and they are in a violent wreck.

Antoine becomes gripped with discovering what really happened that last summer spent at Noirmoutier, who his mother really was and what happened the day she died.  The secrets that the family had kept for far too long need to be revealed.