Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Ten exciting crime novels featuring a small-town setting

Poppy Gee's new novel, Vanishing Falls, is set in a fictional rainforest area, near the Liffey Falls, an enchanting three-tiered waterfall beneath the Great Western Tiers in northern Tasmania.

At CrimeReads, the author tagged ten favorite small town mysteries from the US, Canada and Australia, including:
The Dark Lake, by Sarah Bailey (2017)

The folk of close-knit Smithson, a tranquil patch of green among acres of dry farmland in Australia, learn that a killer is among them when Rosalind, a beautiful, popular English teacher is found strangled in the lake. The high school was the last place Rosalind was seen alive, following her staging of a school play. Students and teachers provide the pieces of puzzle to solve the mystery for investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock, however the policewoman is concealing her own complicated high school rivalry with the victim. This layered psychological mystery will have you guessing until the end, with a list of suspects that includes Rosalind’s mysterious, wealthy family. While police procedurals are not generally my favourite, this one stands out for its full bodied, intriguing characters. It is a twisty, riveting plot… maybe the lovely Rosalind is not as perfect as everyone thinks.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Dark Lake.

My Book, The Movie: The Dark Lake.

--Marshal Zeringue