Widowed librarian Alicia Fairmont needs answers… the past…
Assisted by handsome newspaper publisher and aspiring novelist, John McKinney, Alicia discovers a connection between her absent in-laws and a secret John’s father has kept for over sixty years. Her investigation is interrupted when she receives word her house has burned and arson is suspected, sending her rushing back to Long Island, accompanied by John.
Back in Cobble Cove, cryptic clues are uncovered…
When Alicia returns, she finds a strange diary, confiscated letters, and a digital audio device containing a recording made the day her husband was killed. Anonymous notes warn Alicia to leave town, but she can’t turn her back on the mystery—or her attraction to John. As the pieces fall into place, evidence points to John’s involvement in her husband’s accident. The past and present threaten to collide, and Alicia confronts her fears…
Has she fallen in love with her husband’s killer?
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A Stone’s Throw is the second book I’ve ready by Debbie DeLouise, but it’s the first in her Cobble Cove Mystery series. After reading her suspense/thriller book, I was curious how she’d handle a lighter mystery… and while it was definitely lighter, it packed a solid punch. Once I realized the books take place in Long Island (where I’m from) and upstate New York (where I visit frequently), it became a must read.
Alicia’s husband was hit by a car earlier in the year in Long Island where they lived. She knew nothing about his family and decided to locate his relatives in upstate New York. All she was aware of was that they’d been estranged. Upon arriving in Cobble Cove, she’s initially concerned about the rudeness she encounters. Slowly, they warm to her, even offering her a job as a librarian rather quickly.
As the story progresses, her home in Long Island burns to the ground, and a weird woman haunts the library. It’s not a ghost, but a previous worker who left quite an impression. When a friendly neighbor makes his intentions known, Alicia decides to give love a second chance. Then things take a crazy turn! Alicia meets her husband’s estranged family and learns of uncanny connections she has to them already. Who was playing whom, she asks herself? When everything turns to murder, Alicia is forced to do a little investigating… since it appears she might be the next victim.
This story has a slow build, but it’s charming and well told, so readers easily enjoy getting to know Alicia. She’s kind and generous, but she’s nervous and hesitant to embrace her new life. Is someone lying to her? I love the way the author creates characters who seem pure only to find out there are hidden agendas and backgrounds. Nothing is crystal clear, and it’s not obvious whom to trust all the time. If you like gently unraveling a ball of yarn, you’ll enjoy this mystery. Each new fact builds upon the last one until you suddenly find yourself tightly woven into a very complex plot.
I’m excited to read the next book in this series. It’s a solid setting and the characters have lots of potential. Kudos to the author for her storytelling and pacing in this one.
While this could be considered a cozy mystery, I don’t feel like it’s the typical cozy. It is a clean read when it comes to language, the crimes aren’t written in a gory fashion like in a horror novel, and there are not graphic sex scenes. But this read as more of a mystery to me than a cozy. Not that it really matters because it was an enjoyable novel.
Another way that I felt this was more of a mystery than a cozy, was how quickly the relationship between Alicia and John heats up. In cozies it’ll take at least a couple of books before the amateur sleuth decides to let herself fall for the love interest. In A Stone’s Throw, I think it was less than a week.
At first I was getting a Wicker Man vibe from the story. Everyone would change the subject when Alicia asked about the previous librarian and there would be furtive glances too. The town also had a bit of the Stepford Wives going on with almost everyone being super nice and eager to please. The inn owner was a crab the first time Alicia met her but the next time she was as nice as everyone else. And we have one more cantankerous homebound library patron who shows up later in the book, but she too becomes nice by the end.
As far as the mystery went, I figured a couple of things out early, but I did not see the entire conclusion. And even after it ended I still didn’t feel like one of the main relationships were resolved. I still felt like there was something more hiding with the character, and perhaps that will come up in future books in the Cobble Cove series.
Alicia Fairmont’s husband, Peter, has been gone for six months, the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Peter never talked about his family, but did say that he had lived in Cobble Cove until he was ten years old. Alicia decides to visit Cobble Cove to see if anybody knows where his relatives might be, as none had attended his funeral and may not even know of his death. In Cobble Cove, she meets John McKinney, who keeps the town records and publishes the local newspaper, the Cobble Cove Courier. She was also referred to Mac and Sheila at the local library for information about Peter’s family.
When Alicia visits the library, she is immediately offered a job, as the previous library helper, Tina Deerborn had abruptly left to care for her mother in Florida. Alicia’s visit was interrupted when she received a frantic phone call from her friend, Gilly, telling her that her house had been burned and the police suspected arson.
Was Peter’s death an accident or murder? Are Peter’s death and the house fire connected? What secrets will Alicia uncover in Cobble Cove? With all of the lies and accusations, how can Alicia know who to trust?
Debbie De Louise has made a wonderful start to a fantastic series. The characters and situations are very realistic and there are plenty of twists, turns, and red herrings to keep the reader fully engaged and guessing clear to the end.
A cozy mystery set in Cobble Cove where everything is just a stone throw away. Alicia goes there in the hopes of finding out more about her deceased husband’s family as this is the town where he attended school and high school. She visits the library on the advice of the inn keeper and is immediately offered a job as the last librarian left to care for her mother. She meets Mac, an elderly part-time worker, and his handsome son. A relationship begins to build between the two as they leave off grieving for their departed spouses. The story builds gradually and you are drawn into the village, its quirks, and then its mysteries. Before it is over you are wondering if Alisha has made a horrible error in trusting the handsome son. Someone torches Alisha’s house, and then the police discover her husband was deliberately run down. They discover the former librarian lied about her name. She was having an affair with John and then they discover she was also with Alisha’s husband. Normally, I do not read cozy mysteries, but this one is excellent. The author writes so well she put you right there. I highly recommend this story,
This is the first in an amazing series that will keep you glued to the pages! I have already read several others in this series and all of them are well worth reading. They can be read as stand alones–as I obviously did.
Alicia Fairmont’s husband was killed in an auto accident–but something is bothering her about it. She does not know any of her husband’s family so travels up to Cobble Cove to meet them and hopefully get some answers. She ends up staying there for much longer then she thought she would.
Cobble Cove’s head librarian convinces Alicia to take a job at the little library–and there is also John McKinney, the towns newspaper reporter and wannabe author.
Meanwhile her house back on the Island has burned to the ground and she has to go back to see what is up-John goes with her. They come back and that is when she starts to find various articles-a diary and other notes which really have her confused and a bit nervous.
Will she figure out what really happened? Is John friend or foe? What is the deep dark secret that has been in this town for years? There are twists and turns which will throw you off–the ending will astonish you!
Alicia is picking up her life after her husband dies. His side of the family didn’t show up for the funeral and she wants to get with them for closure. As she finds a few of them and is offered a job she finds out her home has been burned.
As she gets the house settled she goes back to Cobble Cove with John to get answers. They are not as they seem and she gets more mysteries to figure out than answers. She uncovers so many dark secrets.
People are hiding things from everyone.
Characters were good and you didn’t want to trust anyone around town. The author keeps you on your toes.