This was my sleeper read of 2020. A fun and quirky mystery caper, with a great protagonist, this book had a little bit of everything....mystery, light-heartedness, and a really engaging storyline. Definitely recommend for a quick and easy read, if you are looking for one!

Clemmie is retired and residing in a South Carolina seniors' community. She spends her days playing cards, keeping tabs on neighbors, and, occasionally, reminisicing about secrets from her past. Things are moving along swimmingly, until the day when Clemmie goes to check on her cantankerous neighbor, Dom. Clemmie has not heard from him recently, and she is concerned. When she enters his home, she does not find Dom, but rather an intricate piece of art. Clemmie takes a photo of the object and forwards it....and this is where all the trouble begins. Unbeknownst to Clemmie, the art piece had been stolen. Clemmie now finds herself embroiled in the middle of the case.....with a dead body soon found to boot.

As Clemmie is dragged through the investigation, she tries to keep a low-profile, for there are secrets (and people) from the past that Clemmie wishes to keep hidden. Clemmie has no desire to drag these secrets into the light of day, so while she struggles to solve the mystery of the missing art and the dead body, she also struggles to keep her own skeletons hidden safely in her closet....before they reemerge to haunt both her present and her future.

First of all.....Caroline Cooney is still writing books?? I loved her as a teenager, and thirty years later, she is just as good! This book truly had it all.....fun references to the retiree lifestyle, a fairly benign element of mystery that had me cracking up at times, and an engaging story line that had me rooting through Clemmie throughout. The mystery was resolved at the end, and it truly ended up being such a feel-good book. I cannot recommend this book enough. While I was not 100% sure what to expect, I was so pleasantly surprised with what I found.

What a fun and rollicking ride this turned out to be. Clemmie is leading a secret life as Helen because of trauma in her past, even her family don’t know her secrets. But who’d have thought that her comfortable life in a senior’s village in Sun City would turn out to be so drama filled. Drugs, money, guns, knives and Clemmie is right there in the middle of it all with her three cell phones.
The author goes from past to present. We learn about Clemmie’s secrets. I was rooting for her all the way. I loved this book. Being a senior myself, I loved the funny moments with the other residents.
Recommended
Thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for the ARC. This review is voluntary

A combination mystery and thriller that is a fast reader. I read it in one day because Clemmie, the 70 + year old protagonist was such an unusual and interesting character. The setting of a retirement home was different. Worth your time.

I really tried with this book..... but gave up at 30%. Maybe it got more interesting after but I was just bored.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy.

Clemmie made a huge mistake ... and now she's the prime suspect in the death of ner neighbor. The quiet life she has led for the past 50 years is in danger as her dark past merges into her present. She was the last person to see her neighbor alive ... and her fingerprints are present. What will they find when the police start investigating all her aliases she has lived under.

Although a little slow paced, the plot slips from the 50s to present day in Clemmie's life. What has she been hiding from all this time? Character development is solid, although I would have liked to learn a little more about her neighbors, friends, acqaintances. It's a calm mystery with a bit of suspense from start to finish.

Many thanks to the author / Poisoned Pen Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

In the wonderful magical world of books there are books that surprise you, shock you, make you shake your hand or bang your fist. There are some books that make you feel sorry for the characters or mad at them. And there are books that make you realise that even worst actions can be if not justified, explained and understood…

‘Her life didn’t turned out the way she expected’…. Well, that is the easiest cop out if there ever was one.

Clemmie’s life was turned upside down. She had noone to rely on and noone to protect her. She lived in the times when society (men) looked at women as objects. And if anything went wrong with women they were the ones to blame.

Clemmie stepped into the new identity not because she wanted to but because she saw it as the only way to escape, to survive, to protect herself…

However, the ease with which Clemmie stepped into the new identity is another thing altogether… Througout her life Clemmie learnt to manage her double-identity. She became a master of hiding… And she lead a very lonely life..

At the sundown of her life Clemmie thought to stop running and hiding and live out her years in the quiet of the retirement village. But people are people. And even living in the retirement village, playing cards and driving golf buggies people are capable of quite a few things…

The irony of Clemmie’s life can be summed up as following: she was young in the times when women were objects but it was easy to hide. And she found herself in the times when women got power and protection but when it became so much more difficult to hide and not to leave trace… And this was her undoing.

Unfortunately, I can’t go into details of the story without spoiling it for the readers. All I can say, Before She Was Helen brought back the truths that secrets are poison. They can fester and explode at very inopportune times.

Will there be a happy ending? Well, of sorts. The story is suspenseful and twisted enough to keep the reader entertained till the very end. The characters are multi-layered. One would never expect turns and mutations of some of the characters. But they all added to the suspense and entertainment.

I gave this book 5 stars for driving home the universal truths, for showing that humans are so weak and wicked and at the same time so strong and eager to survive that nothing seems beyond reach… nothing…

Don’t judge. Read.

This was a great story with quite a twist. I didn't see what actually happened coming. No one is really who they seem in this one and I liked the flashback to the past. I would definitely read more by this author.

If you want an adventure that will keep you guessing till the end, this us it!
Living in a retirement community clemmie is hiding from her past. Known as clemmie to her family, but Helen to her neighbours.
One day her quiet life she managed to create is on the verge of blowing up.
Her neighbour Dom texts her everyday to let her know he is OK. One day the text doesn't come. Helen takes the spare key and enters Doms home, while checking the garage she finds a door that leads to the neighbours home. Why is this door there? Curious she enters and finds a beautiful ornament. She can't resist taking a photograph and sending it to her neice and nephew. What happens next is a rollercoaster of drugs, money, murder and a cold case from 50 yrs ago being reopened.
The story moves between past and present as Helen tries to keep the past where it cant reach her. Can she really trust her neighbours and friends?

Beloved author Caroline B. Cooney, best known for her young adult books, like THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON, returns to writing for adults. Set in a cozy retirement community and centered on a harmless but mysterious senior citizen, BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN is a deftly written and suspenseful novel that will surprise readers of all ages.

Clementine is a semi-retired Latin teacher who enjoys her quiet days in Sun City, a cozy retirement community where neighbors know the layouts of one another’s homes, canasta games are only a night away, and no one has to worry about their pasts --- except Clementine. Known by her neighbors as Helen, and by her family as Clementine, Clemmie has an ulterior motive for enjoying the senior community: she has a long-buried, secret past and will do anything to keep it from crossing paths with the present.

Sun City is full of quirky characters, especially when it comes to Dom, Clemmie’s crotchety and disagreeable neighbor. Though he tends to stick to himself and eschew bridge and canasta games, Dom maintains one source of connection to the community: his daily texts to Clemmie to let her know that he is doing fine. One day, he fails to check in, and she uses his spare key to make sure he has not fallen in his apartment. Beyond the usual mess and clutter (and, thankfully, the definite lack of an injured or deceased Dom), she comes upon something remarkable: a non-regulation door in his garage that leads directly into the unit between his and Clemmie’s homes. Knowing full well how easily a simple secret can hold something life-changing, she decides to venture into the unit, which is owned by a couple who rarely stays in town or engages with the rest of the community.

Inside, Clemmie finds an ornate and vivid glass-blown sculpture of a dragon. Finally in possession of something that might interest her young nephew, she snaps a picture and texts it to him...only to find out that it is a very valuable, very stolen piece of drug paraphernalia. When her well-meaning nephew alerts the creator of the sculpture (and potential drug dealer), Clemmie finds herself in the middle of a much bigger mystery than her neighbor’s apartment. When the pseudo-sculptor and definite drug dealer shows up on her doorstep demanding access to her neighbors’ apartments and a dead body shows up in Dom’s garage, Clemmie’s cover might be blown for good. But it’s when a cold case from her hometown is reopened and starts gaining new attention that her life really takes a dramatic turn.

Alternating between Clemmie’s past and her present, Cooney presents her readers with two shocking mysteries: a drug ring with possible connections to Clemmie’s own neighborhood, and the unsolved murder of a beloved coach from Clemmie’s high school...and the rumors that he may have taken special interest in some of his students. What makes the book so successful is the way that Cooney uses each mystery to propel the other forward without giving you all the clues up front or blowing her own cover as a suspense writer. Walking the fine line between each case, Clemmie uses her keen observation skills, her unassuming disguise as an old woman, and some very well-timed and convenient “senior moments” not only to maintain her secret identity, but to ensure that no one knows why she is running from her past.

Having been a Cooney fan for a long time, I actually went into BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN blind, with only the vaguest suspicion that I was in for a nice, cozy mystery --- after all, the novel is set in a retirement home. What I got was so much more: a timely and intriguing mystery with real-world connections, a cast of characters as colorful as they are hilarious and well-developed, and the author's signature ability to weave between timelines without missing a beat. While I initially worried that Clemmie’s age would make her unrelatable or even boring, it turns out to be a major benefit and asset to the book, as Cooney often uses Clemmie’s viewpoint as a woman to highlight the progress we have made as a society --- and the ways we are still dreadfully behind the times.

Clemmie is a terrific protagonist, but what truly makes BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN shine is the supporting cast of characters. Almost everyone has some story about a kooky retiree or a friend who works in a nursing home or retirement community, but Cooney manages to immerse you in the setting to the point that you practically feel like you are late for canasta as you read. Between golf cart outings, grown-up affairs and frank discussions of bathroom breaks, her senior characters leap off the page to demand your attention.

Because the setting and age of the characters can be deceiving, I should mention that Clemmie’s history is a bit traumatic, which may make some readers uncomfortable. Cooney does not shy away from describing the more painful moments of her past, nor does she “fade to black” on the more disturbing scenes. However, I found this to be incredibly refreshing, and I loved how it provided some gritty backbone to the less shocking present-day portions of the story.

I couldn't get this book out of my head. Amazing character development. The author crafted an amazing story that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Like other readers I thought I was going to read a cozy mystery but ended up with something quite different.

Clemmie turns out to another character to make another life for herself. She sails through her entire life with two different identities and everything is very smooth sailing till she unexpectedly gets caught in the activities of a neighbour who incidentally is also have double identities! The story unfolding through a series of unexpected scenarios, with murder being just a part of the story.

You root for Clemmie, a hardened campaigner in this game!

Helen, (or Clemmie), is a Latin teacher in her 70's living in a retirement community when one day, while trying to check on her neighbor, she stumbles upon an object that will send her into a spiraling mess laced with current and past murders, and the reason she changed her identity in the first place..

This book wasn't exactly the thriller I thought it would be, but it did turn out to be a pretty cool mystery. I found myself liking it at times, and thinking that it was slow-going at others. It alternates between the past and present, and I think that it what kept it readable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Caroline B. Cooney and Poisoned Pen for this one!

Is she Helen? Or is she Clemmie? And what happened to make her be this way? This charming book went back and forth between the present time and the past, tying together two stories that have left our main character in a bit of a quandry.

The book was charming and humorous--I enjoyed the quirky characters. I wanted to know what had happened then, and what was really happening now. It was fun to read as each character put pieces of the puzzle together entirely incorrectly based on what they thought they saw.

I was a bit disappointed by the final showdown that happened in the past and expected a bit more based on the stress Helen/Clemmie was experiencing. Overall though, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Engaging Mystery.....
A retirement community, a work of art and a body. Engaging mystery where the past merges with present, an entertaining plot and an interesting protagonist. Enjoyable reading.

Wonderful book with excellent writing.
The pacing is terrific and keeps the mysteries unraveling at a steady clip while providing lots of detail to the characters.

Really loved the contrast of the social expectations and decorum of the 1950s youth to the quest for Insta-fame and oversharing of today's. This really stood out to me as a central theme.

Clementine, the main character, is so compelling. I really loved her. You can feel her pain and understand her suffering but she isn't bitter or closed off. She still makes connections within her community even if she keeps people at arms' length.

Also, who knew there were so many shenanigans going on in the senior living communities besides card game and golf?

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*

I'd like to thank the publishers via NetGalley for this arc for review.

This book had me hooked right from the beginning. An old lady with two identities? But why, and how? Once you get into the book, you realize that Helen/Clemmie has secrets to keep. And then throw in what happens next door and what she finds, and you have a good little mystery! This was a quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed and finished quite quickly.

I remember loving Caroline B. Cooney's young adult books when they came out years ago, so I eagerly picked up this one. Only a few pages in, I found myself disliking the protagonist. It's not that she's old...it's that she reminds the reader over and over how incapable and ditzy she is and she immediately makes bad decisions that kick off the entire plot. How could someone who had protected herself so carefully for fifty years have such poor judgment? At one point she muses that maybe she used to be smarter and more capable and is starting to slip. Maybe that's it. In the chapters that describe her past, I really found myself liking her younger self. The plot rambles all over the place, from the very interesting past to the bewildering present. I counted at least a dozen characters, most with chapters from their own viewpoint. They were easy enough to keep straight, but the sheer number of people involved in the plot kept it bouncing all over the place.

As a long time Caroline B. Cooney fan (her books kept me in the library as a child), I was thrilled to get this ARC. Readers beware- even though it takes place in a retirement community this book swings on the side of thriller and not cozy at all!
Clemmie is a great character. The mystery is complex and interesting - definitely Cooney's style in an adult mystery book.

#Author Caroline B Cooney has a wonderful new novel out called '#Before She Was Helen'. This is a perfect stay at home book and also for reading groups.I would say beach read but summer has ended to soon this year for us.
For more details on this beautiful novel join me on my blog. It's on Instagram at maggie_approves_book_reviews and I look forward to talking to you about this book!!🌼
Thank you,
#Netgalley,#Caroline B. Cooney