Death at Whispering Lake is the debut novel by Joanna Carns and features a quirky main character thrust into a very interesting (and chilly) locale.
Title: Death at Whispering Lake
Author: Joanna Carns
Series: Whispering Lake #1
First Published: January 8, 2021
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the author
*** Thank you to the author, Joanna Carns, for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Harlow Kennedy (Harley to her friends) has a serious case of the post-holiday blues: her love life is in the dumps, she lives downstairs to her overbearing mother, and her estranged uncle has recently died, leaving her to handle the estate in the Michigan hinterlands in the dead of January.
The more she learns about her uncle’s death, the more suspicious she is that it’s related to an upcoming city council vote on a development deal. The only problem is the small-town policeman can’t be bothered to investigate. Harley has to find the answers herself, but her efforts are hindered by the arrival of her mother and the distraction of a certain handsome restaurant owner. As the time ticks down to the council vote, Harley has to rush to find her uncle’s killer – before the killer finds her.
A quirky new amateur sleuth in an ice cold climate
Harley is one of the most interesting new main characters in a cozy mystery that I’ve come across in awhile. She’s 37, a librarian, lives in Chicago in her mom and stepfather’s mother-in-law unit, drives a beat-up old 15-year-old Honda, has a cat named Captain Hook and blurts out odd bits of trivia whenever she’s nervous (which is quite often).
While her mom encourages her to forget her ex, Daniel, and improve herself, Harley is just trying to get through life with as few awkward interactions as possible.
When she finds out that she’s the executor of her uncle Tommy’s will, she heads to a very cold and frozen town, Whispering Lake, to clear out his things and settle his estate.
As Harley starts going through her uncle’s things, she starts to learn more about his life and time at Whispering Lake, where he was better known as Brother Thomas. The local police officer, Sgt. Tannenbaum had ruled Tommy’s death a suicide, but Harley is having a tough time accepting that. She’s even more convinced that there’s something suspicious with the death as Tannenbaum comes off as a lazy, rude and obnoxious jerk and decides to do a little investigating of her own.
And while Harley is absolutely determined not to get too attached to Whispering Lake or its inhabitants, she can’t help be attracted to the local bartender at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, Bill. With his rugged good looks and helpful persona, it seems that Harley and Bill are always crossing paths.
An engaging debut
When I picked up Death at Whispering Lake, I had only intended to read a few chapters a day while I caught up on other things. But the characters and mystery just pulled me in and I finished the book in a day. Harley is quirky and awkward, but in an endearing way that is totally relatable. Her reactions don’t seem out of the ordinary and I definitely found myself rooting for her as she went about trying to discover the truth about her uncle.
The town of Whispering Lake, and its inhabitants, are an interesting mix and added to the enjoyment of the story. I could almost FEEL the winter snow blowing at my from the pages (brrrrr!) and halfway through the story I was already wondering if Harley would be pulling up roots to leave Chicago for Whispering Lake.
There are a lot of supporting characters to the story, both in Chicago and in Whispering Lake and it was sometimes hard to figure out who was on Harley’s side and who was working against her, which added to the mysterious feeling of the story.
Another aspect of the story that is a bit different than most other cozy mysteries is that the Tommy’s death takes place prior to beginning of the story so you are thrown right into it from the start. Most cozy mysteries take a few chapters to introduce you to all the characters before someone is murdered (sometimes guessing who is going to be the victim is half the fun). Carns does a great job of allowing us to get to know Tommy through the other characters, whether it’s their reaction to his death or their memories of him. Regardless, I felt like I knew Tommy as a fully-fleshed out character by the end of the book even though he was never alive during it.
Death at Whispering Lake is a great start to a new cozy mystery series and I’m very much looking forward to the next one. Harley has some big decisions to make and I’m excited to see how things go from here!
Read Death at Whispering Lake for yourself
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