Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars rounded up**
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It’s been a while since I last picked up a Megan Miranda novel, but once I read the synopsis for Daughter of Mine, I knew it was one that I would need to pick up right away.
I listened to the audiobook in a day and recommend that format. I got completely sucked into the story.
This story follows Hazel Sharp, as she returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake after close to a decade away. Her father, the town’s long-time detective has passed away, and Hazel returns to attend his services and see to his estate, along with her two estranged brothers.
Hazel has solely inherited her father’s home, which comes as a huge surprise to her brothers. As the tension rises amongst the Sharp family, the water level in town lowers.
The area is in the grips of a drought. When it hits Mirror Lake, the lake water level drops, and long-buried secrets are revealed.
As more comes to light, it seems that Hazel will finally get answers regarding her mother’s mysterious disappearance when she was just a kid. The story she was told has never sat right with her, so this could be her one chance to clear everything up.
Even though Hazel had only planned to stay in town long enough to pay her respects to her father, she decides to stay longer. She has unfinished business in Mirror Lake.
The Publisher’s synopsis keeps things rather vague regarding the content of this story, and I think that’s perfect. It gives you just enough to make you want to pick it up, without giving away anything significant that will ruin the mystery.
I went into this just knowing the info in the synopsis and I ended up being completely enthralled by all that unfolded in Mirror Lake. This story went so much deeper than I was initially anticipating.
I loved learning about Hazel. I thought she was a fascinating main character. Her life had a lot of different layers to it and I enjoyed unpacking it all right along with her.
The mystery of what is revealed as the water levels drop was also so interesting. I really wanted to know what had gone down in this town.
It’s true that sometimes the smallest towns house the biggest secrets. I feel like anyone from small town America, or elsewhere in the globe, can probably relate to that.
I feel like Miranda really showed off her writing chops in this one. The characters were great. The history of the town and the relationships amongst all the characters were extremely well developed, and the reveals were perfectly timed for maximum impact.
Perhaps some Readers may find this to be slow, but I loved the build. I thought it escalated nicely and the build in tension was perfect for me.
I also LOVED the clever way in which in the weather mirrored the plot progression; so good!
I still have a few Megan Miranda novels left to read. This has definitely motivated me to go back and check off some of those backlist titles.
I would recommend this to Megan Miranda fans, Readers who enjoy small town mysteries, Readers who enjoy characters traveling back to their hometowns to solve an old mystery ((one of my all-time favorite tropes)), or people who enjoy tense family mysteries.
I was really impressed with this!