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An engrossing, engaging and comfy (more so than cozy) story, set in gorgeous Cape Breton, Nova Scotia where small-town charm, coastal ocean views, and the singularities of island life provide the perfect backdrop to a complex mystery.

Detective Gordie Maclean is fifty-three years old, a police veteran with the Major Crimes Unit in the island town of Sydney, and has never had a murder to solve. Until now. For such is the relatively calm, unhurried life Gordie has come to recognize, as he manages a roster of domestics and assaults, going home each night to his canine buddy Taz, a massive Great Pyrenee.

All that changes when the remains of a nineteen year-old girl are discovered, re-opening a former (now long cold) missing persons case, and pitting Gordie, along with his new partner Detective Roxanne Albright, against a murderer who has remained stealthily hidden for near-on a decade. The obsessive oversight of this case (and mostly, Gordie himself) imparted by Gordie’s churlish and unpleasant boss, Staff Sgt John Arsenault, certainly doesn’t help matters any.

As Gordie and Roxanne work their way through a voluminous set of interviews and clues, meandering through relationships, old memories, and new theories, it’s impossible for the reader not to settle comfortably into the vibe of this breezy, unassuming duo; their unpretentiously appealing community (be they suspects or simply neighbors), and the resolutely-followed zigzagging curves of this murderous puzzle, now accumulating bodies.

The first in a series featuring Detectives Gordie and Roxanne, I loved this book and it’s narration, which I listened to on Audible for this all-audio book review tour.

My stop today on the @rachelsrandomresources #blogtour for #GardenGirl by @rennydegroot