Kittling: Books: A Twist in the River by Stig Abell

First Line: There has always been the river.

People disappear all the time, but when a young nurse goes missing on the riverbank, leaving her phone and shoes behind, social media goes into a frenzy. Amateur sleuths flock to the area, each with their own theory.

Then another woman is found in the river, and the signs point to murder. Former detective Jake Jackson came to this rural area looking for peace. Now he's looking for a killer.

I have enjoyed Stig Abell's Jake Jackson mysteries from the first (Death Under a Little Sky)-- in particular for their gorgeous descriptions of the landscape and wildlife. A Twist in the River has those same descriptions, so evocative that I feel myself right in the middle of the English countryside.

Jake Jackson's path to this fourth mystery has been a fascinating one. Living off the grid. Making new friends in a rather insular community. His life and the lives of the other characters continue to grow, and the journey is a delight. As Jake searches for a killer, readers learn more about the lives and histories of the locals. Many of them moved to the area for the same reason as Jake: peace and privacy.

While Jake's investigation progresses, readers can accompany him to his favorite secondhand bookshop to browse the shelves, and they can also try to avoid the hordes of social media influencers and podcasters trying to find content to boost their clicks and likes. It's not easy for Jake to avoid "Detective Dani," who has her own YouTube channel. She's zeroed in on him as the best source for the latest information, and she's so devious and manipulative that she causes friction between Jake and the woman he loves.

The books in this series are naturally slow to unfold, but this time the pace of A Twist in the River really seemed to drag-- to the point where it bothered me and kept making me want to skim here and there. (I didn't.) But... the landscape is still beautiful. I still want to tuck myself away in the library in Jake's house. And the mystery is still a puzzler. I hope you decide to give this series a try, and if you do, please begin with the first one due to the character development. This is a series that should be savored.

A Twist in the River by Stig Abell

eISBN: 9780063472426

eBook, 352 pages

Literary Mystery, #4 Jake Jackson

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley