Such a Winter's Day

January 31, 2022
In the prologue of this so-so romance-tinged suspense novel from Thompson (Praying for Time), Owen and Sera Reid of Parrish, Ohio, are devastated by the murder of their 18-year-old son, Fin, an aspiring rock musician; someone slit Fin’s throat and tied him to a tree, leaving the corpse for his 15-year-old sister, Juliet, to find. Nine years later, Juliet’s world is rocked again when she learns that Wendell Booth, the developmentally delayed and violent neighbor who was convicted of Fin’s murder, is now free after a juror came forward to confess that she accepted a bribe to vote guilty. That shock is followed by the news that Owen, a police deputy, apparently shot himself in the head in the tree house he built for Fin. Juliet and Sera don’t buy the conclusion that Owen died by suicide, and soon afterward violence claims the life of someone else important to Juliet. She and a childhood friend, whom she hopes will be a love interest, investigate. Thompson keeps the reader guessing who’s going to survive, but the whodunit plot doesn’t compel, and Juliet’s emotional reactions to repeated trauma fail to convince. Thriller fans can safely pass. Agent: Pamela Ahearn, Ahearn Agency.

September 2, 2022
When Juliet Reid returns to her home town of Parrish, Ohio, having has just finished her master's degree in music, she becomes engulfed in old family tragedies that have resurfaced, bringing violence and sorrow to the sleepy town. Juliet's brother, Finn, a talented musician, was murdered, and Wendell Booth, a developmentally disabled young man prone to violence, was convicted of the crime. Convinced that Juliet's mother, Sera, who reads Tarot cards, is a witch, Wendell's parents continue to blame the Reid family for their son's plight. Then more tragedy comes to Parrish when Sera and Juliet's father, Owen, a police officer, are murdered in the same week. Are these crimes linked to Juliet's brother's death? Juliet is determined to find answers, and she enlists the help of Alec Wainright, a young man who has also returned to Parrish and to whom Juliet is attracted. Thompson throws a lot into the stew here, combining a plot awash in family dysfunction and deceit with elements of romantic suspense, village cozies, and soap opera-style melodrama. A busy but engaging mystery.

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