Like M.E. Hilliard’s debut novel, The Unkindness of Ravens, the newest in her Greer Hogan Mystery series, Shadow in the Glass, grabbed me immediately. The first person narration rapidly sucks the reader in the the thought processes of amateur sleuth, Greer Hogan. A former New York City high-powered executive, Greer reinvents herself by becoming a small town librarian after the murder of her husband. Greer’s intelligence and personality shine through from the onset. I immediately bonded with a gal who calls herself a “girl detective” and who’s read all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries and prefers Trixie to Nancy because Trixie “got into more trouble.” Despite her affinity for childhood heroines, Hilliard aligns her protagonist with others within the mystery genre, including Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercules Poirot.
Unlike the first in the series, Shadow in the Glass is set in upstate New York’s Lake Placid. Even in this lovely town, Hilliard does a bang-up job in creating a chilling gothic atmosphere with two Victorian lake homes, sitting side by side, one rehabbed completely and the other still untouched and complete with elaborately carved nooks and crannies, creaking floors, doors that close by themselves, drafty windows, and ravens inside and out. That atmosphere contrasts sharply with the wedding of Greer’s best friend.
Though the plot is well-constructed, plausible but twisted, there is some personal growth here as well. Though Greer has reinvented her life after the death of her husband, she is coming to terms with his murder and her feeling that the man jailed for the crime is innocent. She attends the wedding to begin her investigation but gets waylaid by the crimes committed at this social gathering.
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Shadow in the Glass (Crooked Lane Books, April 5, 2022) is available through:
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You can see my review of the first in this series, The Unkindness of Ravens, here.
You can read my interview with M. E. Hilliard here.
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