What We Thought: Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves

Mystery Readers Book Club
November 2015

“Brrrrr. Winter at the door, indeed.” Carolyn Haley, New York Journal of Books

 

Author Sarah Graves introduced former Boston homicide cop Lizzie Snow in her first book set in the town of Bearkill in the Great North Woods of Maine. Readers thoroughly enjoyed the fast moving story liberally sprinkled with unexpected twists and turns as well as engaging characters. They had to keep reading to find out what happens next. Lizzie had her moments of naiveté but was forgiven due to her adjustment from life in urban Boston to a new home in the backwoods of Aroostook County. She had to learn to recognize cues of danger from Rascal, a black and tan hound needing a home after his master was murdered. Although police procedure is pretty much the same everywhere, allowances must be made while tramping through hip deep snow with Sherriff Cody Chevrier and civilians on the trail of a kidnapper and serial killer.  

Wintery Maine was the perfect setting for the story with a meth lab hidden deep in the woods and a determined killer camping out there with captives and keeping secrets of disturbing crimes. The dark and silent atmosphere added the perfect note of creepiness to the story. There was just enough romance involving a Maine State Cop and a top notch vet competing for Lizzie’s attention to relieve some of the tension, but not for long. 

Readers discussed the characters and their motives and how the culture of a community affects residents. There were some questions that were not answered by the conclusion of the book; what happened to Lizzies’s sister and her niece, will she find her niece, will there be a romance with Dylan the State Cop or Trey the vet or maybe someone else? Readers can’t wait for the next book in the series, The Girls She Left Behind to be released in 2016. 

Have you read Winter at the Door?  What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments.