It's September, meaning it will be "Talk Like a Pirate Day" soon. I've got some plans for that this year. Anyway, while I'm looking for jobs and expressing disdain for this Straight Pride malarkey which seems to be going around, I thought I'd take the time to read a mystery from across the pond.
Finding the Source is a mystery novel by Joan Livingston, which is part of the ongoing Isabel Long Mystery Series. This post is part of a Reading Between the Lines blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams.
Blurb
A homeless man. His murdered mother. A book could be the clue.
Isabel Long’s next case begins during a chance encounter with a homeless man, who says he was 12 when he found his mother murdered in their home.
Abby McKenzie was a well-liked seller of vintage books who owned a store in the hilltown of Dillard. That was 43 years ago and the case was never solved.
One obstacle is that several of the suspects are dead, including an avid book collector, a former town official who stalked her, and the man who last saw her alive. Another is that, once again, Isabel must deal with Dillard’s police chief, who ran interference in her other cases.
But that doesn’t deter Isabel nor her mother Maria, her partner in solving crime. She just needs to find the source who will unlock this case.
Review
Finding the Source was a real page-turner. From the moment Isabel agrees to look into Tom McKenzie's case on a pro bono basis, I was hooked. It became especially heartwarming as the story progressed, with Tom being given an opportunity to reunite with his family and get back on his feet.
I like Dillard's small-town feel, in that it seems like one of those places where everyone knows everyone. Yet there's a lot of tension is Isabel and Maria investigate the cold case, most of which stems from a nemesis in the form of the local police chief, Jim Hawthorne. The narrative clearly establishes that he and Isabel have butted heads in the past, with a lot of people - including Maria, Isabel's partner Jack, and her employer Bob - warning her to stay away because of it. I haven't read the previous stories, but this makes me want to. I'd love to see how they interacted in previous stories that led to these almost Hammer Horror-like warnings.
Of course, there's a wide array of other characters whom Isabel meets as she gets to the bottom of the mystery. These include Randolph Fischer, another book collector who becomes a real creep as the story progresses. There's also Jennifer McKenzie, Tom's stepmother who seems determined to keep Isabel from speaking with her husband.
Given that these are mysteries, I don't particularly want to say much else due to possible spoilers, but I certainly enjoyed the payoff as well.
Finding the Source is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US, and I recommend checking it out. I think I've got a bit of catching up to do in this series.
About the Author
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers, including the Isabel Long Mystery Series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England.
Joan draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist in Massachusetts and New Mexico to create Isabel Long, a sassy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appears to be impossible cases. She also relies on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts, where she lives, to create realistic characters and settings.
Happy writing
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