A History of Murder

Brook Peterson

When Chloe Martin was sixteen, she left Jericho Falls with the intention of never returning. But, thirteen years later, she returns only to find she was hailed under false pretenses. Before she could turn back around and return to Idaho, a dead body appears in Grandma's flower garden and Grandma is the prime suspect. That may have something to do with an incident from Chloe's last visit. Can Chloe help clear her grandmother's name? Or are some scars too deep for this small mining town?

Let me begin this review by saying that it is NOT a good idea to start this book at midnight. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. Before the body was even found, I wanted to know why the main character was avoiding Jericho Falls. By the time the murder investigation began, I had given up on sleep.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well-developed and I could really relate to them, even some of the creepier ones. There were occasional slips on point of view and tense, as well as a few minor proofreading errors, but they did not detract from the book.

My only real problem with this book was the backstory. I think the author did a fantastic job of weaving in Chloe's tragic reason for leaving Jericho Falls. However, since it was introduced so early and referred to so often, I thought it would play a role in this case and was slightly disappointed to see that it was a subplot. I have some theories about what happened on that horrific day and I thought perhaps some of my suspects in this current murder had something to do with that incident. Unfortunately, this storyline was left unfinished. Since the narrator alludes to an important clue on the last page of the book, I can only assume that this subplot will continue into the next book and the series (and hopefully be solved).

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one in the series. I would rate this story four and a half quills and place it on my top shelf.