Fatal Remorse

This was a solid small-town mystery with plenty of secrets, lies, and long-buried truths waiting to come to the surface. The story kicks off with the discovery of a beloved local teacher’s body, reopening old wounds tied to a tragedy that rocked Hearthstone twenty years earlier.

I enjoyed the atmospheric mountain-town setting and the way the investigation slowly unraveled connections between the past and present. The mystery kept me interested, and there were enough twists and revelations to keep the pages turning.

That said, the pacing felt uneven at times, and I found myself wanting a deeper connection to some of the characters. While the mystery was intriguing, I didn’t feel as emotionally invested as I hoped to be, which made some of the bigger reveals land with less impact.

Overall, this was an engaging whodunit with a strong premise, a web of secrets, and a satisfying mystery. If you enjoy small-town crime stories, cold cases, and uncovering hidden truths, this one may be worth picking up. 📚🔍⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book! For a small-town yarn this story has ambitious scope:

• There’s a large cast of diverse (age and stage of life, ethnicity, socio-economic status) characters and multiple intense storylines quite masterfully woven together. Readers who struggle with keeping a large cast of characters sorted will find that the pace and style of how they’re introduced in this story and their well-defined and sympathy-inducing character qualities make this easy to do.

• If you like a backwoods feel, there’s enough of this setting to satisfy but scenes also take place with more suburban feel.

• It deals with triggering themes without sinking into a story that swims in gore and darkness.

• It can work as a stand alone as most storylines are wrapped up but there is one, maybe two, left wide open which probably lead into the next story.

• This is the Anya Rossi series, and while she plays a pivotal role she isn’t the center of the book – it reads like an ensemble cast - but I assume her role grows with the series and I look forward to more of her story.

• I did guess the primary antagonist before the reveal, but there are multiple elements to the mystery that were unguessable and kept me trying to figure it out.

Overall, a very satisfying read which I recommend – I guarantee you will be happy with how you spent your time and it will stick with you. Well done, BG Frees!