This book was confusing to me. I think part of the problem was too many characters to keep track of. Claire and her husband returned to his childhood home to retire. He died shortly after the move and now friends of are visiting and taking over her house. When accidents start to happen it's clear that someone isn't happy that Claire isn't leaving town. Set in Michigan the story seems to drag in places. It's a good mystery as the house visitors try to stay alive long enough to catch the murderer. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Northern Light by Deb Davies
My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

I always enjoy discovering a new mystery writer and when the books turns out to be the debut of a friend, it is a real pleasure! Hopefully the subtitle "A Coast-To-Coast Michigan Mystery" suggests this will be the beginning of more adventures.

THE STORY: Claire, with her best friend Laurel in tow, has retreated to the summer cabin in Michigan to recover from the death of her husband. When friends and family begin arriving, the house fills up. The first sign of trouble occurs when a raven, somehow trapped in the house, trashes it.

While the friends go on with their lives enjoying Northern Michigan, unpleasant events happen and escalate putting everyone in harms way. Will they figure out the mystery before it is too late?

FIRST LINE:
"Claire and Laurel were sitting at a heart pine table, letting the day fade."

WHAT I THOUGHT: What seemingly starts as a cozy mystery turns out not to be for the faint of heart. The curious events that happen in the first half bloom into pure evil in the second.

The story reads like a literate mystery combined with a violent thriller. The author has created a very specific world. For example, she is "passionate about rescued animals and nature", so those topics find their way into the story. Michiganders will recognize places, products, and traditions the author weaves throughout the book.

The characters, of which there are many, are living in our pre-Covid 19 world and dealing with all the challenging modern day issues. The dialogue and banter seems natural as does the friendship between Claire and Laurel.

Her charming, quirky characters make it difficult to believe that any of them could be guilty of so much wanton destruction and death.

BOTTOM LINE: RECOMMENDED. With her love song to Northern Michigan disguised as a mystery, Deb Davies is an author to watch.

Disclaimer: A copy of Northern Light was provided to me by BHC Press /Net Galley for an honest review. Deb Davies has been a friend for many years.

Hardcover: 248 pages
Publisher: BHC Press (August 20, 2020)
ISBN-10: 1643971204
ISBN-13: 978-1643971209

THE AUTHOR: "Deb Davies enjoys writing mysteries about her favorite place: Michigan. She is passionate about rescued animals and nature, and also enjoys classical music. She resides with her husband, Rick, in an old farmhouse on a trout stream near Luzerne, Michigan. Northern Light is her debut novel in her Coast-to-Coast Michigan Mystery series." (from Amazon)

I started to read this book, but couldn't get very far. The narrative is very disjointed, with elaborate explanations of unimportant things. It seems to begin by mimicing Hitchcock's "The Birds," but there are too many competing storylines to really focus on where the author wants us to go. I finally gave up about 1/4 of the way into the book. It was just too hard to follow.

A gripping and highly entertaining mystery that kept me guessing.
i liked the well thought characters, the fascinating setting and the solid mystery.
It's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A good book! Not that many twists but kept a nice steady pace! I would definitely recommend this book to my fellow suspense lovers.

In this book we follow Claire, who lives in a small town in Michigan. After the recent death of her husband, she has a few friends visiting. As strange things start happening to them you try to figure out who’s behind all of it.
Even though the storyline itself isn’t half bad, I just couldn’t really get into it. There were too many (side)characters introduced in the beginning, which made things confusing. I also had some trouble with the writing style, sometimes scenes would change abruptly without any transition. However I still had the desire to finish the story and find out what is happening to the characters.

This was a great afternoon read. A wonderful story about two friends and an odd collection of "friends and neighbors". I love books that keep me guessing. Totally did not see how this would involve the groups of people and the revelation. Well written and totally honest conversation amongst the two friends from grade school.

This is a mystery novel set in Michigan. It revolves around Claire, her group of friends and her BFF Laurel who comes to stay with her after the demise of Claire's husband. The book has an atmospheric cozy suspense vibe to it which makes you feel as though you are part of the story, (eg: the description of the old house where they are staying.) All is well until a mysterious raven starts showing up to their house followed by a string of deaths.

I felt a bit distracted in between the story and could not immerse myself as deep as I had anticipated.

Thank you NetGalley and Deb Davies for providing me an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

“Northern Light” is an adult mystery/thriller book centered around a widow named Claire and her group of friends, who encounter many strange events throughout the story.

After the loss of her husband, Claire is surrounded by company, especially her best friend Laurel and another man named Charles. She enjoys the time they spend with each other, but things take a turn and continue to do so throughout the story, from a raven showing up in a house to a couple of deaths.

The story was a little bit confusing to follow at times, but one positive about the book was that it kept me wanting to read more, as I waited to see what else was going to happen to them, whether individually or as a whole group, throughout the story. In addition, all of the twists and turns that occur throughout the story (as more bad things happen to the characters) made it a pretty interesting read. Even though I was confused while reading some of it, I still thought it was a pretty good book and would recommend that fans of mystery, thriller, and suspense books give it a chance.

When her husband dies, Claire barely has time to feel lonely in her . new home. She has her cat and lost of visitors, including her BFF Laurel. When an ornithologist and a raven move into the house, it seems Claire has plenty of people to keep her mind off her loss. But soon a series of attacks convinces Claire that her safe haven is anything but

A band of ragtag friends solve a mystery. This book is an atmospheric psychological thriller that combines several strong characters in a race to bring a criminal to justice. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, getting to know all the characters, and the setting which seemed like a third character.