In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In a Midnight Wood is the 27th installment of Ellen Hart’s beloved, Jane Lawless mystery series.
Y’all, I discovered this series on a whim back in 2018, when I requested a copy of A Whisper of Bones. The cover was gorgeous and I was so blinded by it, I failed to notice it was the 25th book in the series.
I decided to give it a go anyway, and I’m so glad that I did!
Like many other long-standing Adult Mystery series, these don’t necessarily need to be read in order. I also feel they make great standalones.
However, once you meet Jane and her best friend, Cordelia, you’ll definitely be back for more!
In this installment, Jane and Cordelia are heading to the quaint town of Castle Rock, in their home state of Minnesota, to visit a friend and participate in a local Arts Festival.
The Festival coincides with Homecoming Weekend and the friend they are staying with, Emma, just so happens to be planning her 20th-class reunion for the occasion.
In a completely unrelated turn of events, the body of Emma’s high school sweetheart, Sam, is discovered. When Sam went missing 20-years ago, it was assumed he ran away, clearly not the case.
Jane, a private investigator, who also happens to be involved in a Podcast that covers Minnesota cold cases is very intrigued with Castle Rock’s discovery.
So begins the investigation of what happened to Sam all those years ago.
I had a ton of fun reading this. I absolutely love Jane and Cordelia. Their friendship and banter, it cracks me up all the time.
At first, I had a little difficulty differentiating between some of the characters we meet in Castle Rock, but once the ball got rolling, that was no longer an issue.
I am really looking forward to picking up more books in this series. I missed the 2019 release, Twisted at the Root, so I will probably start there.
I would highly recommend this if you are looking for an Adult Mystery series with LGBTQIA+ representation. I feel like finding that rep in this space can be a challenge.
Jane, the protagonist in this series, is a lesbian and there have been queer side characters in both of the installments I have read.
Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review.
I am definitely looking forward to solving more mysteries with Jane Lawless!!!