What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What Waits in the Woods is the 2nd-book in Terri Parlato’s Detective Rita Myers series. This is an Adult Police Procedural Mystery following, you guessed it, Detective Rita Myers.
I actually didn’t read the 1st-book, All the Dark Places, prior to reading this one, but I enjoyed this so much, I started the 1st-book immediately after and have already finished it.
It’s fair to say, I will continue to pick up each book in this series as they’re released. Keep ’em coming, Parlato!
This is a dual perspective story following Detective Myers and Esmé Foster, a young woman directly connected to the mystery investigated in this book.
I listened to the audiobook and the dual narrators truly brought these two perspectives to life.
Esmé left her small hometown of Graybridge, 11-years ago to pursue her ballet career. After an injury and a recent break-up though, she decides it’s finally time to return after she gets a call from her brother stating their father isn’t well.
The day that Esmé returns, a body is discovered on her family property. She arrives home to police cars and questions, not exactly the homecoming she was expecting.
Making matters worse is the fact that the dead body isn’t just some stranger, it’s Kara Cunningham, one of Esmé’s closest childhood friends.
Esmé is devastated by the loss of her friend, but there’s something else needling her as well. Esmé and Kara looked a lot alike, what if she was actually the intended target?
Esmé has her reasons for believing this could be the case, but it’s going to take her processing a lot of old baggage to actually figure it out.
Detective Rita Myers gets called to the Foster property after the discovery of Kara’s body and immediately digs in to her investigation. Detective Myers has a lot of experience and genuine care in her work.
There’s no doubt she is going to get to the bottom of this grisly crime, no matter what it takes.
I had so much fun reading this. The mystery was intriguing, the plot was fast-paced and the reveals were exciting and more often than not, unexpected.
I think Detective Myers is a fabulous main character and I know I am just going to become more and more attached to her as the series continues.
She’s a seasoned detective, no-nonsense and smart. She works with a lot of younger detectives and cops and you can tell that they look up to her as a leader.
I also enjoyed getting to know her more on a personal side outside of work. She has some interesting neighbors and even a potential love interest that I am hoping to learn more about in subsequent books.
As with many Mystery series, I don’t feel like you need to necessarily read these books in order. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything going into this because I hadn’t read the 1st-book yet. It’s a complete story unto itself.
I do feel, though, that this is the type of series where the longer you stay involved with this group of characters, the more attached you become, and the higher your enjoyment level will ultimately be.
I knew right away that I would continue on with this series. The writing is compelling, the mystery is well-formatted and the characters are likable.
This is a very solid Police Procedural Mystery. I would recommend it for fans of Caz Frear’s Cat Kinsella series, or Gytha Lodge’s DCI Jonah Sheens series, as I feel like the tone here and quality of the mystery are very similar to those.
Thank you to the publisher, Recorded Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I’m so excited to have a new Mystery author to follow. I hope this series keeps going for a long, long time!