In The Birds That Stay we meet Chief Inspector for Homicide, Romeo Leduc. He is called to investigate the death of an elderly woman who was strangled and left to freeze in her own yard. He was supposed to start his vacation, but reluctantly agrees to postpone and take the case. There have been several robberies in the area, so the assumption is that this is a robbery bone wrong. Marie Russell lives next door to the victim and when her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's says something out of the blue, she thinks it might link to the death of her neighbour and shares the information with Lecuc. Before ling, Marie and Romeo end up working together to investigate this crime that has links that go back many years.

This debut novel is much slower paced than I am used to. It is a well plotted mystery, with likable protagonists who follow the clues while working together. It takes them into the recent past, and the further into history right to the end of WW2. As secrets are revealed, information that seems unrelated, begins to come together to solve the death of this quiet, secluded woman. The story is set in Quebec, so there are several French phrases sprinkled throughout the story, which may frustrate some readers. This is an interesting mystery, with lots of clues that seem to be all over the place, but eventually converge into a great conclusion. I am glad I finally picked this one up and will look for more books in this series.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

This is, by far, the most boring book I’ve read in a very long time. I really tried to stick it out because it was a Netgalley arc, but I just couldn’t. By the time I decided to stop reading, nothing interesting had happened at all. I really… I just don’t have the words to explain to you how unreadable the first 48% of this book is. This is the worst book I’ve read this year.

Such a great book. Makes for a wonderful read. I can not wait to read more from this author. I love books like this.

A great detective novel and set in Quebec like another great series (Inspector Gamache). Although, this story is resolved by amateur sleuths, it was interesting to see it through to the ending. It's like pulling a string on a rug and it keeps unravelling. I think Ms. Lambert has a good career in the making.

I enjoyed this murder mystery especially the setting. However, there were moments were the pacing felt a little off to me. Detective mysteries are not always a win for me but I felt this one was satisfying and had many interesting characters.

When we read a murder mystery, we get this sense of how fictional it is but with this book, the author toys with the real/fictional line. Her world-building skills are concentrated around the relationships and experiences our characters have and one of the best I’ve seen so far. Ann Lambert’s style is unique due to her consistently using common French phrases – readers get the author’s personal touch. I don’t know if it is the same for her other book because this is the only work of hers I have read so far.

I love that this is a murder mystery starring two main characters over the age of 50. Their perspectives and concerns are vastly different compared to younger characters. I don’t read enough of these and mostly just stay in my comfort zone of reading YA and contemporaries starring characters in their 20-30s.

The introduction scene where a dead body was found successfully captured and sustained my attention. But my interest tapered off when getting acquainted main characters Marie and Romeo. A lot of books employ this strategy, but for this one, I felt that it didn’t work. The progression of this stage is agonisingly slow and lengthy. I get that introducing characters is crucial to establish the relationship with readers and sometimes essential for the plot but I was just counting pages until this part was over.

Initially, I felt the presence of such a huge gap between the development of two main characters’ personalities. For Marie it was so well-defined, her voice was distinct in such a way that you could see how her past experience influenced her train of thoughts. It felt as if she actually came from somewhere. Romeo, on the other hand, I felt was a lost character. It was as if he was just dropped into place just to fulfil the cast of a detective. Perhaps this was the intention the author, to make readers feel closer to Marie and keep Romeo at an arm’s length.

There are too many characters and names introduced upfront (i.e. prior to any progress in the mystery) that would work well in a play, but a drag in novels. That makes reading this feels like too much work at times, which is a big no-no for me when it comes to fiction. More than once I wonder if the author can wrap things up in a nice little bow (isn’t that what we all like?).

To sum up, in The Birds That Stay, Ann Lambert creates a complex world with eerily realistic characters, all the while intriguing readers with the murder mystery of an old woman nearing the end of her life.

Content Warning: There are brief descriptions of sexual abuse and assault in teenagers and children. One thing I especially noticed was how brief and matter of fact the author was about the whole thing. So, apparently, there’s a reason for that. Here’s what Ann Lambert has to say about it:

“Ninety per cent of women of my age … ask them what has happened to them. They’re going to tell you they were assaulted in the broad sense of the word, and were either told not to talk about it or weren’t believed. That’s a whole generation of women that have grown up with that. I wanted to write about it as authentically as I could without being titillating.” (Source: Montreal Gazette)

Thanks to Second Story Press for providing me with a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and are based on the advanced digital review copy.

This is set in Quebec and has some lovely descriptions of the culture and history of Quebec, which really adds to the weight of the story.

An elderly woman is found dead at home and so the local police begin their investigation. Something doesn’t feel quite right to the Chief Inspector somhe cancels everything to concentrate on this case, even a Holliday.

Chief Inspector Roméo, has his own family issues as well those of the old woman’s neighbour, Marie….all building a picture of the people and the area.

This is a slow burn of a novel, with lovely evocative writing leading to the final reveal. Clever and absorbing.

I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review

A murder has happened. The detective has been called, and as enquiries progress the detective and the victim's neighbour team up to solve the mystery.
This sounds promising, and that was why I picked up this book. Taking place in a bilingual town, it was good to read the characters switching between English and French easily. This may be a problem for those who are not comfortable with French.
As I read, I found myself unable to get involved in the book. A mystery is all about involving the reader on the journey to solve it. But this book, I just could not get involved in it. The writing is rather choppy. Someplaces it flows through and holds your interest. Some places it doesn't. The whole thing added to the disinterest. It was not something I enjoyed.
Three stars for the plot and the characters.

Sometimes it’s hard to know whether I like a book because of its qualities or because it covers delightfully familiar terrain. I really enjoyed reading Anne Lamber’s The Birds That Stay, and I know it’s largely because it takes place in contemporary Quebec — but I also found this to be one of those thoughtful mysteries that delves below the surface. An older woman is murdered north of Montreal in the Laurentians. As the story unfolds, it focuses on one of the neighbours Marie Russel, on Detective Romeo Leduc and on an apparent con artist operating in seniors’ homes in Montreal. The mystery isn’t that complicated. But I really liked the characters and the strong sense of time and place. Lambert uses the story as an opportunity to explore some of Quebec’s history and contemporary cultural complexity. I especially liked Marie and Romeo. Both in late middle age, their struggles with aging parents, adult children and loneliness felt realistic and three dimensional. I hope they surface in future books Lamber writes. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

In a small village in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Inspector Romeo Leduc is called out to the suspicious death of Anna Newman. At first it appeared the reclusive 86 year old had fallen from a ladder, but upon closer examination it is discovered that she was strangled.
Marie Russell is dealing with her mother Claire's worsening dementia. She didn't know her neighbor, but her mother seems to recognize her picture in the local papers coverage of her death. But she thinks it is someone from Marie's childhood who was involved in a devastating accident from the past.
Leduc and Russell join forces in the investigation and uncover connections to the crime, going back to World War 2.
This is a lyrically written, deliberately paced mystery. Full of background information and historical notes. With charming characters you grow to care about.
This is the first of an intended series and I look forward to reading more!
Thank you to Second Story Press and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars Thank you to NetGalley and Second Story Press for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Published February 19th 2019


I had high hopes for this book, but it just did not pull me in like I had hoped. It started out really well with a murder in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, just north of Montreal, pulling in the Chief Inspector of Homicide, Roméo Leduc and then engaging Marie Russell, next door neighbor to the victim.

However, as the book continued it felt, not especially disorganized, but jagged and choppy. Reading well at one point, then dragging at many others. It did not have a smooth continual narrative to it. It seemed as though it lost something about midway in - I felt a total disconnect. I just really never felt the draw to pick the book back up. When I did, it would read okay, for awhile, then I would lose all interest in it again.

This being the start of a series based in Canada, I had hoped for a good mystery set in a nice nature spot, with a recurring detective solving many cases. I still hope for that. Although I sadly don't believe that the series has gotten off to a very good start.

A well-written murder mystery that takes place in a small Canadian town. What looks like a murder with a robbery as a motive at the beginning proves to be erroneous and much more complicated as one thinks. There are many different characters and different story-lines that seem to have nothing in common but turn out to be connected as the plot unfolds. I like the Canadian flair and elaborately delivered the atmosphere of a small Canadian town. It was interesting to get to know the history of the Canadian post WWII period of time. My complaints are actually absence of any investigation, (view spoiler).
I found also the romance out of place here, it would be better without.

I'd like to read more by the author, but I don't think I will continue with this series.

I enjoyed the setting and the plot but felt that the writing style was not my favorite. Back stories and many plot points felt more like an information dump that being experienced by the characters. Most of the characters felt flat and not like full people. The interactions between them on a personal level felt equally fake. I especially did not believe the romance that got tacked on at the end as there was not build up or chemistry in the narrative until the end. The plot has not particularly original but I would have given it three stars, especially for the historical details on anti-Semitism in Canada, except for one thing. Two scenes presented as memories of child molestation were presented with no commentary and no purpose to the plot. It felt like the author thought she had to include them for some reason.

In a small place north of Montreal, an old lady is found dead, strangled and frozen outside. Who would ever do such a thing to a woman of more than eighty years? Not far from the scene of crime Marie cares about her mother Claire who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s time to move her to a home where better care can be taken of her. When her mother sees the report of the murder in the newspaper, she refers to old Mrs Newman as Mrs Kovak and is convinced that the victim is her former neighbour. Just the talk of a demented woman or a memory that will reveal a lot about the case and the motive of the murderer?

Ann Lambert’s novel takes quite an interesting turn that I didn’t expect at all. To a murder case she adds a bit of Canadian history that is not often heard of, one of those things people prefer to forget about because it is embarrassing. What I appreciated most was how the author managed in her debut to intertwine different plot lines that at first seem to be totally independent without any connection.

It is mainly two aspects that made me ponder while reading the novel. First of all, I had never heard of the Canadian position towards European refugees after WW II and most certainly didn’t I ever connect the country with the idea of being a refuge for Nazi collaborators. Second, the novel provides an interesting study of human nature, Tomas/Ennis is seemingly lacking any kind of compassion and willing to do everything to get what he deserves in his opinion. Both of them linked inevitably lead to the question if there is something “running in the blood” – the father part of the most atrocious crimes of the 20th century and the son likewise ruthless? Apart from the plot, I liked Lambert’s style of writing a lot and I am looking forward to reading more from her.

The beginning of what looks like a fabulous new series!! Such a fine read. I almost wish I hadn't read it so I could savor it again. Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.
#TheBirdsThatStay #NetGalley

This excellent debut novel takes place in the Laurentian Mountains, north of Montreal. Marie Russell is a divorced nature writer and mother of two grown children. She lives quietly in a cottage with no close neighbors. One of her neighbors, however, is Madame Newman, a woman in her eighties living a spartan and reclusive life. The semi-retired handyman, Louis Lachance, is perhaps the closest person to being a friend, but even he knows nothing about her past. When he finds her outside her cottage, strangled and frozen, he is the only one to mourn her. Chief homicide investigator, Roméo Leduc is just days away from his first vacation in two years, but this investigation will put an end to that. Leduc at first thinks that it might be a botched break-in by a local biker gang but quickly realizes there is more to this crime than meets the eye. Finding out just who Madame Newman was is the key. Marie and Leduc cross paths when Marie's mother, who suffers from dementia, identifies the dead woman from a photo in the paper as a Mrs. Kovak, who lived in the same suburban neighborhood that Marie grew up with. Marie is not at all sure that her mother is correct, but does remember the Kovak family, They were refugees from the Hungarian uprising in the 1950s. Her remembrances spurred in part by the sale and closing of her childhood home and moving her mother into a care facility make her do a little detective work of her own.

The Birds That Stay takes us from post-WWII Hungary to Canada in the 70s and 80s, not all that different to the US of the same era. Many women of the time lived stifled by the mores of the day. Marie's mother and Mrs. Kovak were no different. Mr. and Mrs. Kovak had secrets of a more severe kind and those secrets led to not only her death but others. There are multiple overlapping stories told but all the characters are beautifully realized and memorable. Along the way, Roméo and Marie form the tentative beginnings of a relationship, one that I am looking forward to watching in the future.

I highly recommend The Birds That Stay for its characterization, sense of place and well-plotted mystery. I am already looking forward to the next in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and Second Story Books for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

RATING- 4 Stars

It is not often that I read books set in Quebec and I really enjoyed this one and the setting definitely added to that enjoyment.

This book is a mystery, the story surrounding a possibly murdered old lady, nazi's, and a lot of changed identities. There are a lot of characters and at first they were a bit confusing to keep track of but once I got into the story they started to fall into place.

I found that there was just enough mystery to keep me interested, but also enough slower parts to learn about the characters, the town, and the details that were really great about this book.

I loved that this book taught me something about a dark part of Canadian history and was also very interesting at the same time.

Please don't give up this book too early. I have no idea why an author thinks it will be interesting telling us about a murder and then write a very long chapter about some things that have nothing to with said murder. But the plot of this book is actually very good (when it's on), and the characters and the dialogue are excellent.

Several threads run concurrently throughout this thoughtful thriller. Separate storylines seem unconnected at first, but slowly, inexorably, they are woven together until all is revealed in a stunning conclusion. Visceral and intellectual.