Misty Lake by Margaret StandaferMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I could not decide for several chapters of this book whether I was reading a romantic novel or a cozy murder mystery. When I had finally realised that it was a romantic tale of the growing relationship between Samantha Taylor, the attractive young woodworker, and Jake McCabe, the handsome local sheriff, my heart sank as this was quite definitely not the kind of book I would choose to read. However, since I had offered to review the book with an honest and objective opinion I continued right through to the end.
Reading it as a crime thriller helped me a lot as I was slowly hooked in by Margaret Standafer’s skilfully crafted novel, and began to root for Sam in her efforts to come to terms with the various events affecting her life. She had decided to live in a house on the shore of Misty Lake that she had not expected to inherit from her grandfather and teach a disillusioned bunch of young adults, with backgrounds on the wrong side of the law. Sheriff McCabe is called in to investigate threatening and gruesome incidents of intimidation designed to force Sam out of the house. The characters were well drawn and the dialogue generally believable but I felt that the language from some of those of a more criminal nature might have been more explicit and not so polite and “tame”. The plot moved at a good pace, with the occasional helpful backstories to add context.
In the end I enjoyed the book with the exception of the denouement when I would have liked more background information about the perpetrator of the crimes and Zach. It would have helped me to accept the reality of the finale which I found to be a little false. I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest, non-reciprocal review.
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