Buried
Twisted Cedars Mysteries, Book #1
By C. J. Carmichael
Author’s website: http://CJCarmichael.com
ISBN-13: 978-0987861337
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jerjen
Synopsis:
Justice is overdue in the coastal town of Twisted Cedars where two unsolved mysteries lay buried in the past.
Over thirty years ago a series of murders targeting Oregon librarians was never solved. Now someone with inside knowledge is feeding clues to true crime writer Dougal Lachlan, promising him the best story of his career. Pursuing the leads means returning to Twisted Cedars, where his sister Jamie is about to marry a man he deeply dislikes.
Local Twisted Cedars librarian Charlotte Hammond prefers her mysteries—and her romances—between the covers of a good book, especially since the disappearance of her older sister, Daisy, eight years ago. But then the dark and tortured soul who is Dougal Lachlan walks into the Twisted Cedars Library asking for her help.
Before long Charlotte realizes there is no safe zone. Not even in libraries…and especially not in Twisted Cedars.
Review:
Dougal Lachlan is a true crime writer. He has never met a mystery that he did not want to solve. So when he receives an anonymous email telling him about unsolved murders that happened thirty years ago, he is definitely intrigued. When he does some investigating he finds that he needs to pay a visit to Twisted Cedars to follow some leads. He grew up in Twisted Cedars, in a trailer park, and he has not been back for a very long time. Not even for his mother’s funeral. He knows that his sister’s wedding is coming up soon, and he can spend time there trying to talk his sister, Jamie, out of the marriage. He does not like the man she is marrying, even though they used to be friends. He does not trust him and he knows that he is a cheater. But his sister is not very likely to listen to him, she is upset because he never came back for his mother’s burial.
Charlotte Hammond is a librarian for the Twisted Cedars library. She lives a quiet life which is very predictable and calm. But when Dougal shows up at the library, asking for information about the deaths that had occurred years ago, that quiet life abruptly disappears. She remembers Dougal from when she was younger and she finds him fascinating. He was friends with her sister, Daisy, who disappeared after giving birth to twins. She gets excited at the idea of helping him with his research and getting to spend time with him.
The characters are well developed, well rounded and three dimensional. The characters all have flaws and imperfections which make them seem even more realistic to me. Many of the characters have past history and their relationships are finely woven together. Family relationships are strained and there is a lot of guilt and regret felt by many of the characters. Some of those cannot be changed and fixed, such as Dougal never saying goodbye to his mother. Some can be fixed but it will not be an easy to do that.
Dougal has a lot of regret that he has to live with and after returning to Twisted Cedars, he realizes just how much he has done wrong in his life. He wants to try and make things right, where he can, but he does not know how to do that. Charlotte has regrets concerning her sister and wishes that she knew where she was so she could try to mend their relationship. She does not know where Daisy is or how she is doing. She feels confident that Daisy is alive somewhere because there are withdrawals from their joint bank account, but she does not know anything for sure. What she would not give to see Daisy again and tell her she loves her.
The mystery is carried on well throughout the book and the author is very talented in creating suspense with the written word. There are twists and turns and I kept second guessing myself with the answer to “Who did it?”. I will say that I was a little disappointed in the ending. When I finished the book, I still had questions with no answers. I do not feel like the book had a true conclusion and that bothers me. The next books in the series may address these questions and give me the answers I am missing now, but that is what I want when I finish a book. This is only my opinion and it may not bother other readers.
I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the fact that there was romance as well as mystery in this book. The thing I liked the most about the book was the plot, the fact that the murdered were librarians and that the killings took place in the library. I thought this was very clever and what better place for all that to happen but in a library, where there are thousands of mystery books.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well written mystery suspense. This is the first book I have read by this author but I will getting the other books in the series to read. Hopefully, I will get my questions answered.
