Time tripping a little
According to my book list, this is the ninth book in this series. It's the first one I've read. I do not feel like I've entered into a long running series at all. It feels fresh and new, as if it was just starting.
We have three unexplained deaths, multiple years apart with the exact same elements. Each young woman is found on a semi-deserted road in a pretty new party dress and not much more dead with no signs of violence. The first death is called natural cause by misadventure. The second is undetermined possibly murder by means unknown and persons unknown. The third, because of better techniques in crime fighting and forensic evidence gathering, and because the police chief in the third case was a person of interest in the second death, is called murder right off the bat. All three cases get a close look, although the first has very little in the case file.
The investigations first need to find who the victim was. Each of the girls has only a slight connection to the community at large. The first was only conclusively identified at the conclusion of the case. The second girl was a member of a new "hippie" commune. The third waitressed at a summer resort. A large portion of the residents were summer people. Finding a motive for the deaths was difficult.
I liked how the summer people and the more permanent members of the community interacted. The politics of such a place are somewhat complicated by the seasonal increase and decrease of the population. the solution to the crime was completely unexpected, but made sense within the dynamics of the situation. I liked how it all came together.
We have three unexplained deaths, multiple years apart with the exact same elements. Each young woman is found on a semi-deserted road in a pretty new party dress and not much more dead with no signs of violence. The first death is called natural cause by misadventure. The second is undetermined possibly murder by means unknown and persons unknown. The third, because of better techniques in crime fighting and forensic evidence gathering, and because the police chief in the third case was a person of interest in the second death, is called murder right off the bat. All three cases get a close look, although the first has very little in the case file.
The investigations first need to find who the victim was. Each of the girls has only a slight connection to the community at large. The first was only conclusively identified at the conclusion of the case. The second girl was a member of a new "hippie" commune. The third waitressed at a summer resort. A large portion of the residents were summer people. Finding a motive for the deaths was difficult.
I liked how the summer people and the more permanent members of the community interacted. The politics of such a place are somewhat complicated by the seasonal increase and decrease of the population. the solution to the crime was completely unexpected, but made sense within the dynamics of the situation. I liked how it all came together.