Murder at Raven's Hollow by Louise Marley


 Beneath the ruins of a Victorian greenhouse, a skeleton is unearthed – and with it, years of buried secrets in Raven's Edge…

When decades-old human bones are discovered beneath the old glasshouse behind Foxglove & Hemlock, the local florist, DS Harriet March and DI Ben Taylor find themselves digging into Raven's Edge's murky past. As a frosty wind whips down the cobblestoned lanes of the village, the two detectives feel an ominous chill that has nothing to do with the weather…

The discovery coincides with the arrival of enigmatic novelist Iris Evergreen at Raven's Hollow, a gothic monstrosity of a mansion that's been sitting empty for years. Harriet is shocked to uncover a web of hidden secrets connecting the skeleton, Raven's Hollow and, most alarmingly, her own family history.

Just as Harriet begins to piece together the puzzle, a heavy snowfall blankets the village. And there, half-buried in a snowdrift outside Raven's Hollow, lies another body – this one still warm. As sirens wail in the distance, Harriet realises with a shiver that this killer is anything but history. The past and present have collided in Raven's Edge, will DS Harriet March be the one to pay the price?

I disliked DS Harriet March, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about DI Ben Taylor. Thus, it took a while for me to actually get caught up in the action. There were moments that I felt the novel was doing too much, meaning too many different POVs and different time jumps. 

This is supposed to be the third in a series, but I honestly felt it was a standalone novel throughout my entire reading. I did not figure out the killer until about 50% of the way in, and then I could see the plot line. I wonder how many of the characters are returning characters, outside of the DS and DI, and how many will continue into the next novel, if there is a fourth. 

Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars. 

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