Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Village in the Dark is the 2nd-book in the Cara Kennedy mystery series. Let it be known right outta the gate that I haven’t read the 1st-book yet.
That’s right, I’m picking them up out of order…
I know some of you may disagree with my pattern for doing this, but with Adult Mystery series, I sort of just pick up the ones that sound like they have the most intriguing mystery elements. Then if I really enjoy the characters and setting, I’ll go back and read the prior books.
I’m happy to report that I would love to go back and read the 1st-book, and any others that happen to come after this. I had fun with the mystery and did become attached to Cara and her intriguing personal story.
In this story, we do follow Cara Kennedy, who is a Detective in Anchorage, Alaska. We learn at the start that Cara is grieving the fairly recent loss of her husband, Aaron, and their young son, Dylan.
The boys went out on a camping trip and never returned. Their bodies were later found at the bottom of a cliff. It was believed an accident, but new evidence points to foul play.
Cara is devastated. She was upset enough believing they accidentally met their demise, but to learn someone else actually took them from her. She needs to find the truth.
We also get the perspectives of two other women related to the crime. It’s unclear for a good portion of the story how everything fits together, but as the pieces started to fall into place, that’s when it really picked up for me.
I loved the setting. There’s something about mysteries set in Alaska that just feel more dangerous and intriguing to me. The harsh landscape, the remote areas, it pushes the tension levels in really pleasing ways.
I definitely enjoyed Cara’s perspective the most out of the three, but I did enjoy how the three came together and I think overall, it was well-executed.
As mentioned above, I would absolutely pick up any more books in this series that are released. I do plan to go back and read the 1st-book, City Under One Roof, soon. I am interested to see if Cara’s husband and son are in that book, and if so, what those relationships were like.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Adult Mystery series following Detective protagonists. Bonus points if you enjoy mysteries set in remote areas such as Alaska. I really enjoyed learning about Cara’s community and the surrounding areas; very interesting.
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I’m excited to have a new Detective to follow!