The Coroner - Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

I was fortunate to receive this novel from Netgalley.com as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Dr. Emily Hartford is a third-year surgical resident in Chicago and is preparing for a surgical case as this novel opens. It is also her birthday, which she realizes to her surprise, as she’s commuting into work. Upon her arrival, she’s asked to perform an emergent appendectomy, so she tucks her busily ringing phone away. It’s not until later, as her boyfriend is proposing to her, that she checks her messages and learns of her father’s sudden illness. Diamond ring, newly placed on her finger, she packs some things and heads for home.

As Emily approaches Freeport County, her childhood home, she’s hit by a wave of nostalgia, and inadvertently drives through the towns only traffic light. Witnessed by a cop, she’s pulled over, only to see her high school love is the cop in question. They re-connect briefly, and she continues her trip to the hospital, where her father has been diagnosed with a heart attack. Estranged from her medical examiner father for several years after the death of her mother, Emily hopes she can find some common ground with her Dad.

Meanwhile, a young equestrian and daughter of a senator has been found dead after a morning ride, and her horse has been badly injured as well. With the county coroner hospitalized, and the family not wishing for their daughter’s body to be autopsied out of county, Emily is asked to perform the examination. Her discovery points to blunt force trauma, a homicide.

As Nick and Emily join forces to solve Julie’s murder, Emily’s new fiancé remains in Chicago, busy visiting wedding venues and making plans for their marriage. As her frustration with the case grows, she begins to realize that she has unresolved feelings for her first love, along with unresolved questions regarding her mother’s death that she wants answers to…

For a first novel, this book was surprisingly good!! I very much enjoyed Emily’s character and I hope this is a first in a continuing series. I was hooked right from the start and read this book from cover to cover in just a few hours, not wanting to put it down! There were a few medical errors, but likely not detectable to the layperson – of course they may have been corrected prior to print, also. Great story, engaging characters, and well worth the read!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Jennifer Graeser Dornbush for allowing me to read and review The Coronor. I enjoyed this book. It was well written and held my interest. 4/5

I cannot believe this is an author's debut, as it was so well written and was everything I look for in a thriller! The plot had tons of twists and turns. I cannot wait to read the author's next book!

For the lovers of a dark and creepy plot with a killer roaming anywhere next to the characters, and almost everyone looks suspicious.

Interesting small town procedural with a sympathetic character in Emily, who goes home after many year away because her father has had a heart attack and then.. she finds herself acting as medical examiner. This has two good mysteries- who murdered Julie and what happened to Emily's mom. That said, there are some conventional things (the high school love interest who is now the sheriff) and some oddities. For example, way too much is made of what the recovery will be for Emily's dad if he undergoes the recommended heart surgery, at least in 2018. AND, it seems highly unlikely that a physician and his (new) wife who is an undertaker would eat the way they do after he suffers a heart attack. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining quick read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

3 1/2 ⭐️‘S
An enjoyable rainy afternoon, beach or plane read. Moves along at a fast clip. A book about relationships, reconciliation and self discovery all wrapped around a small town murder mystery. Dornbush does a nice job with the equestrian aspect and her characters are well developed.loo Looking forward to the next installment in this series.

Loved it! The author captured me from the beginning. An interesting mystery and romance. I am eager to read more by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush. The ending initially was upsetting, but then I realized many old movies ended this way. Wrapped up with a little left to one's imagination. Create your own happily ever after.

Newly engaged, Dr. Emily Hartford has nearly completed her medical studies when she learns her father has had a heart attack and has to return home. Her father has been the local coroner for years and she has many happy memories of her earlier years accompanying him on his call outs.
Although engaged to a doctor from a well to do family Nick is her first love. Now the town sheriff, he has never stopped loving her.
When a young rising equestrian star is murdered Emily steps in to help using her medical skills to uncover the murderer. In doing so emotions surface which never really went away as well as an unresolved issue from the past.
The author is the daughter of a real medical examiner drawing on personal experience and memories to write this book. The ending left me wanting to know more and eager for a sequel.
This book has a little romance, mystery, crime and a hard to pick villain (the last person I thought of). My favourite parts included details on the coroner/autopsy/medical side of things.
Emily was my favourite character. She had a lot of personality traits I admire.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

I found this to be an interesting premise but for me, it kept missing the mark in some areas. I wondered how a strong woman who worked her way through college and med school couldn't stand up to a "mama's boy" fiance and a father who didn't talk to her. Yes, she didn't keep in touch with him when she left at 15 but who was the adult? I guess it boils down to me not really liking the characters enough. I did read the whole book and didn't appreciate the ending. I don't plan to read any more of this series or recommend it.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

an equestrian murder...why was she murdered....

a father and daughter estranged..can they sort out their differences before anything bad happens

a nice little murder mystery that keeps you guessing whodunnit...

It’s a good thing The Coroner is the beginning of a series since the debut ended quite abruptly.

Dr Emily Hartford is on her way to becoming a surgeon, just got engaged to Dr. Brandon Taylor, also a surgical resident, when she receives news that her father just had a heart attack. She leaves Chicago immediately for Freeport County, where she grew up and her father, Dr. Robert Hartford is the county medical examiner and has his family practice. Her old boyfriend, Nick Larsen, now sheriff, found her dad when he was looking for Dr. Hartford to discuss how quickly he could perform an autopsy on Julie Dobson, a local teenager found dead.

Emily and her father are somewhat estranged due to his withdrawal when Mary, his wife and Emily’s mother, died suddenly. Emily never got closure on her mother’s death and her Dad just withdrew. Emily left upon graduating from high school and has not been back. She left a note for Nick to explain her sudden disappearance that he never received.

Emily finds her Dad recovering and grumpy. Nick and her Dad persuade her to do the autopsy and she finds evidence that it is a homicide, not an accident. This story combines more than one family hiding secrets added to all the elements of a murder mystery. Lots of twists in this tale but the murderer is easy to spot. The family entanglements are more complex.

This debut in a mystery series by Dornbush was an exciting and intriguing read. While the plot seems to move too fast, and at times in jumps and stutters, it is a unique perspective to crime fiction. The main character, Emily, is a strong and intelligent female who embarks on an unexpected journey of self-discovery, when she returns to her hometown to care for her father. She is a surgeon, a career path that is the result of having grown-up as the daughter of the local coroner/medical examiner. Her visit coincides with the murder of a local teen, and Emily is asked to perform the autopsy, in her father's place. This launches her into solving a crime, while struggling with past and current loves and her future. The cliffhanger ending will keep me looking forward to the next book.

I received this book for free from the publisher through Netgally for review. I enjoyed the book, it was a quick easy read with engaging characters and an interesting storyline. I thought it was unique as it involved the equestrienne element which I haven't read personally in many mysteries before. I thought it came off as having more of a cozy mystery vibe compared to a thriller. It has a cliffhanger ending which I'm not a huge fan of though I would consider picking up the next in the series to find out how things turn out.

I've got to say, I loved this book. I didn't at first, because I feel like the writing style is a little choppy and abrupt - but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. And that ending!! Whyyy?! Now I have to wait all year for the sequel! Here's hoping it comes out soon. All in all, a solid four stars, with high hopes for the sequel.

Emily Hartford grew up in the small town of Freeport, MI where she gained her love of medicine from her father. As Emily was a teen her dad would bring her in as he was performing autopsies to begin teaching Emily but after her mother’s passing Emily just couldn’t stay in Freeport and went to live with an aunt.

Now a decade later Emily has begun to become the doctor she always wanted to be and is in the third year of surgical residency in Chicago when she receives some horrible news, her father is in the hospital after a massive heart attack. Of course Emily immediately rushes back to town only to get pulled over by her ex who is now Sheriff in the small town.

After checking on her father Emily finds that he has business as a coroner that still needs attending so Emily agrees to step in and perform the autopsy. But as Emily concludes that the victim wasn’t killed by an accident as everyone thought and that she is actually the victim of a murderer Emily finds herself caught up in trying to catch a killer.

The Coroner by Jennifer Graeser is a mystery read that felt a tad bit like reading a cozy but with a more forensic/scientific side to it with the main character being a doctor. The story was an interesting one and the characters likable enough but parts of this one just seemed a bit dry and dragged a bit to me, perhaps due to the cozy feel without the lighter nature of a cozy. And I would also warn readers that the ending of this one seemed very up in the air but as far as I can tell there’s no definite indication of it continuing so that was a slight turn off otherwise it was a solid read.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I loved the character and the pace of the small town. I was pulled in from start to finish. I look forward to more books.

Such a good book! I loved the interaction between the characters, the small town setting and just so much about this story.

This is my first book by this author and I'd highly recommend it. The only negative I would say is that I wanted more of an ending. Maybe this is the start of a series?? I hope so.

I just finished reading The Coroner by Jeniffer Graeser Dornbush. After reading the advance praise for the book listing it as equal to Patricia Cornwell I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately it is not even close to one of Patricia Cornwell’s worst books and I was very disappointed. This is not the author’s fault who wrote the book the way she wanted. It is very much in the style of romantic cozy mystery and should be judged on those merits. I don’t as a norm read romantic books but can appreciate that it wasn’t the steamy kind of romantic books where you can just substitute different names and titles and you have a “new” book. This book unfortunately ends as other reviewers have mentioned on a cliffhanger which in the great scheme of things that there is no ending and you will have to buy the next installment if you want an ending. I am not a fan of this and am pretty sure I will never find out the ending. I do not recommend this book but that is only because of its style. It might well be great in its genre but I wouldn’t know. I give the book 3 stars and thank NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Emily and Nick brought together once again. This time they are not sweethearts this time they come together to find out who is hurting the town people? Why did someone die and who is the one responsible? As the story unfolds the chemistry and past relationship between them start coming to the surface. Will anything happen or will someone or something stand in their way? Thanks for allowing me to read and write about this book NetGalley.

This book had a little bit of everything in it for me. It had some humor, lots of suspense, and good characters. Emily is a surgical resident and she goes back home for a family emergency when her father needs her.  Then everything starts while back home. It was a fun book and I enjoyed it.  The twists and turns were great! *This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.*