First of all, thank you @poisonedpenpress for the ARC!

The Wrong Good Deed by Caroline B. Cooney grasped my attention from the first page. I love Southern historical fiction novels where the story told might seem like it actually happened. The reader gets to hear from the main character's past as if it were told by a friend. You fall in love with the characters and root for justice... and a happy ending, if the two happen to coincide.

For anyone who loves a good straightforward mystery book should check this one out! Out not in paperback :)

I was excited to read this book, but even more so when I found out the author is the same one that wrote one of my favorite books from when I was in middle school "The Face On The Milk Carton." I adored that one and read it many time! Sadly I could not get into The Wrong Good Dead. I struggled to keep the characters separate and half the time didn't know if I was listening to a flashback from someone or was in the present of the book. I got half way through it and had to stop reading I just couldn't get into it.

Two septuagenarians, Muffin and Clemmie, living in a retirement community are enjoying their day at church until Muffin is haunted by a ghost from her past sitting a few pews ahead, causing them to flee out of church. This sighting sparks flashes of Muffin’s past to return, resulting in a story that is told in alternating timelines, 50 years apart.

Maybe the concept of this one is intriguing (cmon I LOVE stories featuring elderly main characters!) but the execution was poor. I understand it was book #2 in a series, but there was no point in devoting chapters delving into Clemmie’s past for it to have no impact on the plot. There was also heavy topics involving desegregation in the south in the 1960’s that didn’t feel like it was handled very well, and left me feeling a bit icky at the redemption and conclusion of the white characters. The “plot twist” at the end was bizarre and added nothing valuable to the main storyline, and made the story seem like absolute chaos that never fully comes together. Also both of our main characters had two names. Why?? I already have a hard enough time keeping track of one. I could probably keep going but you get the idea…skip this one.

I love this novel ! because it is set in my home state. 2 because the characters are 70 year old women. It is a perspective we rarely hear.

Book Review
The Wrong Good Deed
By: Caroline B. Cooney
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: May 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @poisonedpenpress and @netgalley for my digital copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Blurb: "1964: Christaphine is twenty years old, newly married, and determined to make a home and a life for her and her husband, Tommy. But when Christaphine discovers Tommy and his friends on the verge of committing a horrible crime, she does what she has to do to stop them. Afterwards, she knows she can't ever go home again--so she disappears.

50 years later: When Clemmie's neighbor, Muffin, drags her from Sunday morning service at Trinity Hill Church, convinced that the man she's just spotted across the aisle is a dangerous figure from her past, at first Clemmie thinks she's being dramatic. But as Muffin reveals to Clemmie what happened in the middle of a field in South Carolina five decades ago, Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping dark secrets--just as Clemmie herself has. And the secrets that belong to both women are not the kind that can be revealed without dire consequences..."

My thoughts: When I found out I got to review a book by Caroline B. Cooney I was so stoked. The same lady who wrote The Face on the Milk Carton! (If you are too young to know what this is, I'm so sorry) Now after having read the book, I hate to say it, but I'm just kind of meh about it?
The book was an easy read, truly. The writing was smooth and the flow was pretty good, I even enjoyed the much older than normal FMC. That was refreshing. I liked the going between time periods, too. I wish, howver, that there had been more resolution with the 1960s time period. Additionally, the ending just felt kind of sporadic to me. And it left a little to be desired, at least for me.

#qotd : Tell me a recent read that you expected to love but didn't.

#poisonedpenpress #bookreview #thewronggooddeed
#carolinebcooney #olderprotagonists #readbooks #reviewbooks #tuesdayreview #netgalley #netgalleyreview #sunset #gorgeouscover #flashbacks #1960s #racewars

A huge thank you to Poisoned Pen for the opportunity to read this book!

In 1964, a young newlywed named Christaphine catches wind of her husband's plan to do something terrible, criminal, and horrendous. She stops it. And she disappears. 50 years later, Muffin Morgan has a scare in church and drags her friend, Clemmie, straight out of the service. She claims to have seen a ghost from her past sitting in the pews across from her. Muffin reveals to Clemmie something happened 50 years ago, a good deed that she performed, and Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping secrets.

This book is labeled "women's fiction" but I believe it really transcends more than just that. There are elements of mystery, a brutal look at some US history, and plenty of drama, which is more than I honestly expected when I first received my approval. I was pleasantly surprised - this is way more than just a "woman's book." Clemmie's character is very dynamic, and in this book, we don't even get her whole story. She has fears, wants, needs, convictions, motivations... She's more than just a cute Southern old lady. I loved the back-and-forth timelines as we learn more and more about Muffin's past. The ending (no spoilers) was very unsatisfying for me - but I think that was the point. This book really hits the "no good deed goes unpunished" concept right on the head.

This was an interesting light mystery and I liked the aspects of the characters aging.
Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest feedback

Sadly DNFd this one. I didn't realize this was a second book in a series and I felt very disconnected to the characters after being thrown into the group. Even though this was a short book, I found it dragging and the details all repetitive.

This book tells the story of two friends, Muffin and Clemmie, who both live in a retirement community. At church one Sunday morning, Muffin thinks she sees someone from her past. After fleeing from the church, we are taken on a trip through the last 50 years where Muffin stopped a crime from happening. Cooney takes us on the journey over those years that reveals what happened to everyone involved. This was a very quick, enjoyable read with some twists and surprises!

Muffin and Clemmie, both in their 70s, live in a retirement village. While not exactly close friends, they do spend time together and enjoy some of the same activities. When they attend a church service, Muffin becomes agitated when she recognizes someone from her past. Things become more complicated when she reveals to Clemmie what that past is.

This synopsis doesn’t even begin to do justice to the plot of Caroline Cooney’s book, The Wrong Good Deed. This is an interesting story that deals with uncomfortable topics. The characters are well-defined and I loved the personalities and energies of these two women and their friends. The backstories are well-written and add to the overall enjoyment of the book. It moves along at a nice pace and I was totally engaged in Muffin and Clemmie’s stories from beginning to end. I found it to be an easy read that still has depth and emotion. I really enjoyed this book. NetGalley provided an advance copy.

Caroline B. Cooney, is a total rockstar! As soon as I see her name attached to a book, I get full body tingles and I just HAVE to have it! I crossed my fingers and prayed to the book fairies in hopes to be chosen to read The Wrong Good Deed, early.

Well, the fairies must have been working overtime.. I got my book!!!

Weeheeeeeee!!! Did you hear me scream? I was so dang excited! The only thing to do, was to drop everything and get started.

I was completely consumed from the first page. There is just something about Cooney that sucks you right in. Her books are almost like noise canceling sound. While Im reading, I don't see or hear anything going on around me as I have submerged myself deep within the plot.

The Wrong Good Deed, will take you on a trip through time. There is so much raw emotion in this book, you won't help but feel everything you were meant to feel.

I am going to let you in on a little secret. If you want to hear the back story and get to the depth of these characters, I highly recommend you reading Before She Was Helen, prior to reading The Wrong Good Deed. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely read this one as a standalone but if you read Before She Was Helen, first, you will have a deeper appreciation for all that this story is.

As you can see, I am a huge Caroline B. Cooney, fan, and I believe you will be too!

Don't believe me? Check out this teaser :

She thought she had left that life behind forever. She was wrong.

1964: Christaphine is twenty years old, newly married, and determined to make a home and a life for her and her husband, Tommy. But when Christaphine discovers Tommy and his friends on the verge of committing a horrible crime, she does what she has to do to stop them. Afterwards, she knows she can't ever go home again--so she disappears.

50 years later: When Clemmie's neighbor, Muffin, drags her from Sunday morning service at Trinity Hill Church, convinced that the man she's just spotted across the aisle is a dangerous figure from her past, at first Clemmie thinks she's being dramatic. But as Muffin reveals to Clemmie what happened in the middle of a field in South Carolina five decades ago, Clemmie realizes her friend has been keeping dark secrets--just as Clemmie herself has. And the secrets that belong to both women are not the kind that can be revealed without dire consequences...

This was a middle of the road type of book for me. I would give this a 3 star rating overall with nothing exceptional to talk about here.

What I liked? Well, there was a mystery element to it, so that I appreciated. I thought the characters being in their senior years was a nice little change from a lot of the other mysteries I read. This is in no way a thriller by any means either. I would classify this as a slow-burn mystery.

What I didn’t like…well that’s easier to say because there are so many things unfortunately. The storyline lacked thorough development. I was left underwhelmed at the revealing of the mystery and even rolled my eyes a little since it’s just ridiculous in my opinion. This is a multi-POV in a dual timeline but it gets convoluted with so many people weighing in and inner monologues. I found the main character to be behaviorally contradictory and that annoyed me. It also annoyed me that she had meaningless diatribes in her head which distracts from the actual story. These felt like words taking up space on a page to make the book feel longer. Lastly, this book totes two mysteries from two woman that have “dire consequences” from their past. The book talks about two for sure, and then, only ONE is revealed. Why does the mysterious circumstances surrounding the main character go uncovered?? Just a major let down in my opinion.

Overall, if you like a slow burn with no twists, but just like to follow along and have no real expectations of a psychological thriller or deep mystery, you might be able to bide your time with this book. Just “eh” for me

The Wrong Good Deed - Caroline B Cooney.

Thanks to the Poisoned Pen Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC.

I was surprised that this book didn't get the higher ratings I feel it deserves, and I haven't read ANY review that explains "why" to even a small degree of satisfaction.

However, I have read vague complaints that do not really fit, such as "I need more of a resolution" although every mystery was resolved, and the most important unknown (a murder's identity) came to a very clever and shocking resolution.

Although this novel didn't necessarily leave me daydreaming of puppies and rainbows, it included serious and important issues of racism, ageism, loneliness, spousal abuse, and the illness and decline we will all suffer if we live long enough.

Perhaps this novel does too good of a job of reminding us of the inevitability of our own impending weakness and mortality, thereby making readers uncomfortable, without them recognizing it?

I found this book was realistic, with with a solid storyline, and excellent plot and character development.

I didn't see it coming, I really didn't.

I have found it equally odd that some readers, even after completing this novel, they still do not recognize the "Wrong Good Deed" in this story, although obviously the good deed you will end up most regret doing is the one that unaccountably leads to your injury or to your demise.

Until next time, dear readers, those of us who recognize the value of this novel will be left to wonder why it has received so many merely "average" ratings...

At the Trinity Hill Church, Clemmie and her friend Muffin are attending Sunday service when Muffin begins to panic. Muffin swears that someone from her past is in the church and intend to kill her.

The pair make a get away in Clemmie's car to head home to the senior living community where they both live in North Carolina. However, on the way home Clemmie stops to assist two teenage girls that get in an accident. This good deed and Muffin's reaction to a man she saw in church cause a chain reaction of events.

Muffin is under a constant state of fear and stress in her concern that her past has resurfaced. You see back in 1964 Muffin helped a man escape from being lynched by her husband and his friends. The group of four have an intent to teach a Northern white man a 'lesson' and to 'scare him good', but Muffin fears that they plan to kill the man. She does what she can to help the man escape and in turn Muffin leaves town. For Muffin this means leaving her past and her name behind and becoming someone new.

In the process of the story you find that some of those residing at the Senior living community are not who they seem. Even Clemmie has her own secrets in her past. Yet, when the past resurfaces and returns to their town in North Carolina, it is Muffin's determination to reveal the truth.

Muffin confesses to Clemmie what she feared and almost witnessed, while Clemmie herself fears that her own past is going to come back to get her. Other members of the community end of having their own guilty conscience when they are pulled back into the same past. Ironically enough people that Muffin tried to escape are residing in the same community.

The story progresses in a tepid attempt of concern and fear on Muffin's behalf, but the edge of suspense does fall a bit flat.

When one of the main members of the senior living community ends of killed in a hit and run, the rest of the key players are left facing their own personal demons. While the story ends on a slow lull the novel itself is not an unpleasant read.

I was asked by Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley to provide my unbiased review of The Wrong Good Deed. I grew up reading Caroline B Cooney so the chance to read something new from her piqued my interest. I must admit to missing the Cooney of old, but that does not mean that the Wrong Good Deed is terrible. Sure it could use some enhancement but it still was enjoyable. It left me asking questions and wanting more.

I did discover that Caroline B Cooney did write a book prior that revolves around Clemmie titled 'Before She Was Helen.' I have yet to check it out but I imagine if you wish to know Clemmie/Helen's back story this is the perfect resource! Until next time, happy reading.

The Wrong Good Deed takes place during one week in South Carolina, focusing on two elderly friends who live in a retirement community. Both have troubled pasts and different names than the ones they were given at birth. Back in the turbulent desegregation days, Muffin left her name behind when she took drastic steps to prevent her husband and his friends from carrying out a heinous crime, running away from him in the process. Clemmie's past, which isn't fully explained resulted in her stealing a dead woman's name and Social Security Number and pursuing a quiet life as a high school Latin teacher. As the two women try to cope when the result of Muffin's interference 50 years earlier suddenly come back to haunt them, another senseless tragedy occurs.

The book title comes from the central issue--can a good deed be a bad idea when it negatively affects the lives of many people in lasting ways? I found the book too depressing and repetitive, and I was unable to connect with Muffin's character. I wasn't at all surprised at one of the twists in the story. I understand the author's last book, Before She Was Helen, which delves into Clemmie's past, was an Edgar nominee, so perhaps reading that book first might have shed more light and understanding on this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

An aging reporter recounting his frightening experience of almost being lynched in a small South Carolina town in 1964 precipitates frightened conversations and remembrances of the racism of the South during the period, as well as a murder.

In 2014, Clemmie and Muffin are two elderly friends. During a Sunday church service, Muffin drags Clemmie out to confess that she just saw a man she knew in her twenties, and who was one of the men who threatened the reporter all those years ago. Clemmie thinks Muffin is being overly dramatic, and dismisses Muffin's concerns. Clemmie has her reasons for not wanting to delve deeper into the past, as she has her own secrets, and consequently tends to keep herself at a little remove from even her friends in the community.

Author Caroline B. Cooney relates a number of realistic conversations amongst the elderly in the community, and we find out that not just one, but two men from the incident in 1964 live near Muffin (this did not feel super plausible). Neither man has any desire to open up about their time almost murdering a man.

Cooney's characters and their friendships felt real, as well as how the characters looked back on their actions, or inactions, when faced with injustice, and how their own unconscious white supremacist views played into them.

I was a little surprised at how the reasons behind the 2014 murder was banal, ordinary, and petty, making it actually in some ways much more realistic than if there had been nefarious ties back to the 1964 plot. I, however, did not feel satisfied with where Clemmie's storyline ended up, as it felt unresolved. Though I liked parts of the story, I was a little underwhelmed overall by this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This was a really quick and well done read! I enjoyed the characters and watching how these two timelines and plots connected.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

The premise of the story was what hooked me and surprisingly, it fell a bit short for me. I was expecting a bit more tension and suspense that would keep me on my toes but it never really came.

What I did enjoy was the fact that the story was told in the views of 2 elderly women. Their respective histories and those in their community that they both currently live among were interesting and kept me engaged.

There were stories told about so many different people that although they connected to one another, it felt as if there was disconnect. The connections didn't really feel as connections and some had me questioning why make this a connection at all?

Writing was great but execution was fair.

Thank you NetGalley and PoisonedPenPress for the gifted copy.

The book is a bit slow moving and I didn't really connect with Clemmie and Muffin. The different names for Clemmie was confusing for a part of the book. This was also the second book in a series and I think that if you read the first book to get backstory, it would be easier to get into this plot.

I did like that the story centered around women in their 70s. The dual timeline is told for present and 50 years prior and deals with issues like racism and civil rights of the 1960s. While I am interested in those subjects, the story wasn't as engaging as I wanted it to be. I was also a bit turned off by how much church and the bible was in the book. The ending was just so-so.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC.

This was a fun and unique read! It is about two ladies who now live in a retirement community and the death of one of them. I enjoyed this funny and heartwarming story.