In addition to author events, the local independent bookstore hosts a few book clubs. When I moved here, the sessions were closed but I signed up for two of them when they opened for the spring. This was the first selection for the Southern Lit book club, which is also the one I am doing with my mom.
Overall, it was a good book. Even though I like mysteries, this isn’t one I would have likely picked up on my own since I tend to gravitate towards either historical fiction mysteries (Sebastian St. Cyr, Mistress of the Art of Death etc) or urban fantasy (October Daye, The Dresden Files). This is very much set in the contemporary world though it does play with some local legends and folklore, and how the different variations of the story of the witch, the crows and her daughters reflect on the teller.
Annie Gore, former Air Force investigator turned private eye, is barely scraping by in Louisville when a young man hires her to investigate a cold case in his small town in Appalachia: his sister’s disappearance 10 years ago. Ever since then, every single dime he has made has gone into a fund to discover what exactly happened to his sister, and the two other girls that were taken. While Annie sees little chance of discovering anything, she can’t turn the 18 year old down. She needs the money too desperately but maybe she can also give him closure, even if it is only the reassurance that he has done everything he could.
As someone raised in small town Appalachia herself, Annie finds it easier to navigate the small town than another outsider might. While there is some regional flavor to it, the setting will feel familiar: a town that was overly reliant on one industry or factory for work that has been floundering ever since the doll factory closed and left. This type of town and story has served as a setting for novels time and again, whether it’s in a manufacturing town in the Northeast or the South or elsewhere.
Annie quickly starts stirring things up as she talks to the town residents, showing some of the darker undersides of the residents. Especially for a debut novel, I thought this was well put together and plotted, with hints at Annie’s past that will surely come together in the follow up novels. I thought her treatment of her car, Honey, was a little bit too quirky but figured it was a way the author was trying to add some characterization and hopefully it will settle down in future novels into a slightly less distracting and annoying character trait. Annie is one of those characters that seems to have quite a few people on her side looking out for her, even as she struggles with wanting to be independent and making it on her own.
I also appreciated that even though we very much get allusions to Annie’s past trauma, it doesn’t overpower the narrative. She is still a mostly competent investigator and character who is just trying to find the one trail that will lead to something. I very much appreciate a main character that doesn’t make destructive decisions and doesn’t engage in toxic behavior. I didn’t love the ending, though. It both felt a little rushed compared to the rest of the novel and it feels like the resolution was more of an accident than due to Annie’s skills. And maybe I have just watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds but the ending very much felt like a plot line for that show.
The next Annie Gore novel is scheduled for this summer so while I don’t think I’ll rush out to read, I’ll likely end up reading it eventually.
