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7 oeuvres 73 utilisateurs 9 critiques 1 Favoris

A propos de l'auteur

Comprend les noms: Lynn Chandler Willis

Séries

Œuvres de Lynn Chandler-Willis

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Date de naissance
1960
Sexe
female
Nationalité
USA
Lieu de naissance
North Carolina, USA

Membres

Critiques

Exciting, tense, and utterly unique, WHAT THE MONKEY SAW is one of the best crime novels I’ve ever read.

What the Monkey Saw is the first book in author Lynn Chandler Willis’s new series, Death Doula, and it is one of the most fascinating and unique crime novels I’ve ever read. With characters so finely drawn, you’ll feel as if you knew them personally, its unusual premise, its mix of poignancy, heartache, and heart-pounding excitement, you’ll want to read the whole thing in one satisfying and absorbing session.

I loved the main character, Emily Gayle. She’s haunted by the circumstances of her fiancé’s death and conflicted over leaving her former career, but she feels like what she’s doing now is truly of more service than anything she’s ever done. Much of the story is told from her first-person viewpoint.

Jude Courtland is also carrying many burdens. He is desperate to save his beloved grandmother but, at the same time, aches to be free of his responsibilities. He’s weary from the toll that being a caretaker extracts and feels guilty for his desire for release. He’s also keeping his brother in line, while Crispin seems oblivious to Hazel’s and Jude’s needs. Crispin loves animals, and when he discovers a small capuchin monkey inside one of the stolen vans, he takes it home as a pet, but not until after coming to blows with Jude over that decision. In his early 30s, Crispin is a little boy in a big man’s body.

The story is told in alternating points of view, Emily’s and Jude’s, and this works well as the two separate storylines wind their way toward each other. They came together in a tense collision and kept me on the absolute edge of my seat all the way to its shocking resolution.

I recommend WHAT THE MONKEY SAW to readers who enjoy strong and thrilling crime stories, unusual premises, Appalachian settings, or tales told from the “villain’s” perspective.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.
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Signalé
KarenSiddall | Feb 24, 2023 |
Ava Logan is a newspaper publisher in small-town Jackson Creek, North Carolina. She's involved with Sheriff Grayson Ridge, and so far, they've managed to work together and keep things on an even keel between them as far as it goes. When she's working on a feature article of a local man who's a rabbit hunter, one of his dogs comes across human bones located near an old mill that closed down. She notifies Grayson, and he, in turn, notifies an anthropologist to see if they can determine how long the bones have been there.

But she also finds a couple of key pieces of evidence - the person has been shot in the head, and there's a class ring nearby with the initials KJD and MAM engraved in it. Now, while Grayson is looking to identify the body, so is Ava -- but from a different perspective. She wants to find out whose initials these are. But when Ava starts digging into the mystery, she doesn't realize it's going to come closer to home than she imagines -- and could possibly damage or destroy the lives of those she cares for...

I have read the previous two Ava Logan mysteries and enjoyed them both, and I have to say that this one is just as good. It's not a 'feel good' mystery; nor is it meant to be. It digs down into those deep places where some people want to forget, and others never want to go again. It brings forth the damages of life, and people who were hurt and permanently scarred along the way -- in more ways than one. In other words, it's what happens in real life. It's raw, painful, and even at times, a bit uplifting.

We are given in this book to know more about the local "granny woman" Mary McCarter and her slow-witted son Keeper, two characters I've liked from books before. Keeper is the best of us; he has no guile and no evil within him, and he's joyful to others. But we also learn more about the woman who basically raised Ava, too, and we see how Ava and Grayson's relationship has grown.

For Ava, she's a strong woman who never walks into situations that could cause her to be in potential danger. She also doesn't set out to hurt others in her line of work, and her newspaper isn't a rag that publishes lies and rumors. She's made a future for herself and her kids, and is smart while still having her own insecurities.

When we get closer to discovering the murderer, it was fairly easy for me to figure out who it was (but then again, I read a lot of mysteries), but the reasons behind it stunned even me. It seemed so worthless and cruel, and some things one may never recover from. This is indeed a book that will stay with you for awhile after being read, and I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
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Signalé
joannefm2 | Mar 13, 2020 |
Ava Logan is publisher of a small-town newspaper and is bothered by the fact that her delivery person, Scott, didn't show up for work and she hasn't been able to contact him. She tells this to her sheriff boyfriend, Grayson Ridge, while they're waiting for her daughter Emma to be baptized in the river. But just as it's Emma's turn, Ava sees something - and wades out into the water only to discover Scott's backpack.

When she finds that Scott's cat Boone is still in his apartment, unfed for days, she takes the poor animal with her and now the hunt is on for the young man. But where is he? And more importantly, is he dead or alive?...

This is the second book in the series and just as good as the first. It takes place in the Appalachia, where modern life cohabits with ways of old. While Ava is chasing down leads to discover what happened to Scott, she's also dealing with the fact that one of those folk, Mary McCarter, is being attacked for her home remedies, and Ava's children are going through their own crises.

But in finding out the truth of what happened to Scott is causing problems between her and Grayson: he wants to handle the case in his own way and she goes off on her own asking questions and learning things she needs to keep secret - for now.

It's a dark tale and disturbing - in more ways than one. I had a difficult time with parts of it, and that rarely happens for me. I can honestly say it took quite a bit for me to finish this book. Which pretty much tells you how well it is written. Another author and I might not have gotten through it.

Watching Ava take the pieces and put everything together, finding the clues and connecting it all, and still it was almost missed how everything connected until she was given a chance to ask the right questions, completed the puzzle. In the end there is no defense when evil lies in the hearts of men. We can only hope that we never encounter it. Highly recommended.
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Signalé
joannefm2 | Aug 2, 2019 |
A single mom, Ava Logan, runs the only newspaper in this small Appalachian Mountains town. Her husband was killed in the line of duty some years ago.

An election is coming up soon and Ava's newspaper is doing well with all the politicians paying for advertising. She's busy trying to keep up with the politics and investigating a rash of poaching. Seems lots of ginseng is going missing. And with the advent of a new buyer, who's paying more money than anyone else, there's lots of groaning.

Ava's friend has left her baby daughter with Ava for a rare night out. The next morning when Ava goes to return baby Ivy, she finds her friend horribly murdered.

The sheriff is someone she has a history with ... a history filled with love, passion ...and guilt.

For 10 years she has kept him at arm's length ... but when someone comes gunning for Ava, the past seems very unimportant. Why would anyone want to hurt Ava?

This is an extremely well written murder mystery. Because the characters are so deftly written, they feel like people I could know and like. Of course, there's always that one or two who are hiding secrets that eventually see the light of day. The characters are credible. Her teenage son is hiding something from Mom. Her 12-year-old daughter is discovering boys. And baby Ivy is too young to know where her mama is. Ava was raised in the system and wants Ivy to have a real home.. especially when her own grandparents don't want her and no one knows who her father is.

There are stories seamlessly woven amid other stories. This is he first of a series ... one that I really wanted to continue when I got to the end. No cliff hangers, I am happy to say.

Many thanks to the author / Henery Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this most interesting book. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
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Signalé
Linstrong12 | 2 autres critiques | Jun 30, 2017 |

Prix et récompenses

Statistiques

Œuvres
7
Membres
73
Popularité
#240,526
Évaluation
3.9
Critiques
9
ISBN
25
Favoris
1

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