Thursday, May 10, 2018

Books Set in the United States: Maine

All the Beautiful Lies, by Peter Swanson (2018)
I picked up this crime thriller from the library solely because the novel is set in Maine.  I’m glad I found this author.  The descriptions of the small coastal Maine towns is spot on.
Harry Ackerson is just about to graduate from college when he gets a call saying that his father, who lived in a small coastal Maine town, had died when he fell off a rocky cliff on his daily walk.  Harry immediately returned home to his young step-mother, Alice, and to attend to funeral arrangements.
Harry’s father had run a rare bookshop in Manhattan, but after his wife died, he moved to Maine and opened a second shop.  After relocating to Maine, Harry’s father married Alice, his realtor.
Alice has a mysterious past.  We slowly learn the details as the chapter alternate between “Now” and “Then”.
After the autopsy is completed, the police begin to suspect that Harry’s father didn’t just fall, but believe he may have been murdered.  Then a mysterious young woman appears at the funeral.  Harry meets her to find out why she has come to town and to find out why she was interested in attending the funeral.
Harry learns that his father’s life was more complicated than he thought.  Who was responsible for his father’s death?  As the relationships between the characters unfolds, the mystery slowly unravels.
I found this book to be a very quick read and very enjoyable.
Read:  May 10, 2018
4 Stars

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