GRANITE HARBOR

5 stars out of 5

I've not read other books by this author, but if this one's any example, I'd enjoy them thoroughly. Despite my intense dislike of reading when I go to bed at night, I was so engrossed and close to the exciting end that I just couldn't wait till morning to finish it.

The coastal Maine small town of Granite Harbor isn't large, but one of its attractions is The Settlement, an archaeological historic site that employs docent-reenactors to guide visitors. But one not-so-fine day, they get an unexpected, and certainly unwelcome, visitor: a dead body hanging in one of the structures - clearly a murder - complete with a clue that suggests this death may not be a one-off. To the scene comes relatively newbie Detective Alex Brangwen, a British transplant and sometime novelist whose writing hasn't been sufficient to pay the bills.

Alex has troubles of his own, including dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter, Sophie, who mostly lives with his ex-wife Morgana. Sophie is friends with Ethan, the son of Isabel Dorr, one of the Settlement reenactors, and two other local teens, Jared and Shane. Understandably, everyone is particularly devastated when the murder victim turns out to be one of the teens. Needless to say, the parents of the other teens - including Alex and Morgana - are on pins and needles wondering which child might be next.

And then their worst fears become real.

Chapters follow the progress of the investigation, with flashbacks to show prior events leading up to the murders (but leaving readers, of course, clueless as to who did the dirty deeds until the very end). All told, it's an exciting adventure complete with some rather gory details and hints of the occult - certainly well worth reading. Many thanks to the publisher, via a Bookish First raffle win, for a free copy of this book to read and review.

Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols (Celedon Books, April 2024); 320 pp.