M.E. Hilliard’s debut novel, The Unkindness of Ravens, grabbed me from the first page. I was hooked by the first person narrator, Greer Hogan, a former New York City high-powered executive who turns into a small town librarian after the death of her husband. Greer’s intelligence and personality shine through from the onset. I immediately bonded with a gal who’s read all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries and prefers Trixie to Nancy because Trixie “got into more trouble.” Greer is uncertain Nancy’s boyfriend Ned Nickerson, who Greer had always envisioned as a Ken doll, was even “anatomically correct.” She’s much more attracted to Trixie Beldon’s beau. Jim Frayne had a “working-class background … and came into a pile of money at an early age” and became “a prototype Nora Roberts hero.” Despite this irreverent look at childhood heroines, Hilliard aligns her protagonist with these girl detectives, as well as others within the mystery genre, including Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercules Poirot.
Hilliard has also done a bang-up job in creating a chilling atmosphere complete with a spooky, creaky old mansion-turned-public-library, populated by dark Victorian images of the former owners of the manor. the requisite nooks and crannies, creaking floors, and drafty windows, and ravens inside and out—and hints of the supernatural as well. The suspense rises as Greer, whose husband was murdered in NYC, finds a dead body in the library. The book is well-plotted as the body count rises. It’s well-written, sort of a cozy mystery with a bit of an edge to it. I’m eager for the second book in this series.
********************
The Unkindness of Ravens is available through:
********************
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
