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Kindle Edition Digital Ebook Purchas Details
  • 08/2023
  • 9798988695127 B0CCHT8W81
  • 344 pages
  • $4.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2023
  • 9798988695110 B0CCZXR333
  • 342 pages
  • $11.99
Craig Comer
Author
A Dagger Among Friends (Harvest Falls Mysteries Book 1)
Craig Comer, author
Charlie Goode has returned home to Harvest Falls after a split from her long-term partner. Her life needs a reboot, and so do her relationships. Looking for a fresh start, Charlie works at her cousin’s board game shop and at the local police station, where her father is chief of police. But when her high-school BFF is killed, Charlie is shocked as amateur sleuths abound. Determined to protect her father’s reputation, she finds herself battling wits with the bumbling sleuths, joining the hunt for her friend’s killer. But with librarians, florists, and bakers tromping through crime scenes, hurling accusations, and fudging the law, she’ll have to act fast before the killer’s dagger pricks another friend.
Plot/Idea: 10 out of 10
Originality: 8 out of 10
Prose: 9 out of 10
Character/Execution: 9 out of 10
Overall: 9.00 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Charlie Goode returns home to regroup after a breakup when her school friend is murdered, kickstarting a long line of local small-town sleuths—including Charlie herself—who are all convinced they can successfully connect the dots and solve the whodunnit. The story is immediately appealing, and Comer deftly combines provincial conspiracies with humor, relatable interplay among old friends, and a healthy dose of suspense that make this a success. 

Prose: Comer’s writing is polished and convincing, drawing readers into the story and keeping their attention until its thrilling conclusion. 

Originality: The idea of too many amateur sleuths tripping up the main character freshens this murder mystery, transforming it into a sophisticated, riveting read.

Character/Execution: Comer has a masterful grasp of subtle character development, particularly in Charlie, who is likable, clever, and bolstered by an appealing supporting cast.

Date Submitted: April 03, 2024

Reviews
Newly single Charlie Goode returns to her small Oregon hometown, where her father is the police chief, to start off Comer’s Harvest Falls mystery series. Her old friend Addie has been found murdered, and the ensuing investigation upends the tourist town, bringing rivalries and jealousies to the surface. Charlie sets herself up as an amateur sleuth, despite some hesitations—“as if I knew anything more than Vera Stanhope or Stephanie Plum had taught me,” she muses, relatably. Still, she soon comes across all kinds of surprise connections, such as a long-ago suicide and local economic problems. The possibility of a new romance threatens to sidetrack Charlie, but at the end, with the assistance of her cousin Case, she cuts through all the small town rumors to find a killer—and learn some lessons.

Comer has a wonderful sense of small town rhythms and how the insular world breeds both deep connection but also deep resentments. He shows, through Charlie's eyes, how the same inter-family problems play across the generations and how deeply petty class differences can matter. Comer populates the town with a large, colorful cast, built to anchor a series, including an overeager baker and a delightfully loopy mayor, though at times it takes some work to keep track of all the interactions and connections. However, Charlie moves through the story at a nice clip, and readers will be pulling for her to reach the finish line.

In fact, aside from the story, readers will find themselves charmed by Charlie and her self-deprecating narration. One of the great pleasures of the book is seeing how Charlie grows emotionally: she's forced to take a fresh look at her hometown’s past and discovers things were not always as she had thought, a truth that possibly extends to a budding relationship, too. Also coming across as real is Charlie's connection with her father, as she helps and defends him, and their bonding at the end is moving. Readers will look forward to Charlie's next case.

Takeaway: Promising start to a small-town mystery series, in the classic mode.

Comparable Titles: Caroline Graham, Kate Atkinson.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Comer (Barrow Witch) effortlessly pivots from fantasy to crime fiction with this delightful series launch set in small-town Oregon. When 40-something Charlie Goode moved back to Harvest Falls—a “tourist way-stop nestled in the Coast Range” where her father is chief of police—her only plan for the future was to reapply to medical school. She’d intended to become a doctor decades earlier, before a relationship with a deadbeat boyfriend sent her in a different direction. That relationship is recently terminated, but when her medical school application is denied, she winds up at loose ends, with no love life to speak of and no career prospects on the horizon. That changes when Charlie’s former best friend, Addie Newsome, is found stabbed to death in her car. Though the two had hardly spoken since high school, Charlie decides to investigate after rumors circulate that Addie’s murder could be linked to her father’s long-ago death under similar circumstances—and that Charlie’s father might have had a hand in covering up those and other crimes. Comer nails the small-town atmosphere, and shrewdly uses Charlie’s lifelong fascination with board games to make her a convincing amateur sleuth. This will hook fans of Joan Hess’s fizzy regional whodunits. (Self-published)
Formats
Kindle Edition Digital Ebook Purchas Details
  • 08/2023
  • 9798988695127 B0CCHT8W81
  • 344 pages
  • $4.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2023
  • 9798988695110 B0CCZXR333
  • 342 pages
  • $11.99
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