Another thrilling installment in the Rocktown series. The mystery was expertly crafted, and I enjoyed what moving to a new location added to the series. It introduced a fresh cast of characters and a wider pool of suspects. The wilderness setting added more unknown elements, making the story even more exciting.

The narrator was also excellent and helped bring the story to life.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I never read Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series, but this spinoff seems to read fine without having read that series. Haven's Rock is a town being built deep in the Yukon wilderness. It is town where residents apply for residency, it will be a refuge for those in need. Rockton was built for the same reason, but greed and corruption led detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, to build a new town where they will be the ones to decide who lives there. The construction workers are told to stay out of the forest, but two of them don't listen, and they go missing. Casey and Eric are called in ahead of schedule to track them down. They find one of them as well as a dead woman. The architect, is still missing. Who killed the woman and why was the man in the forest. They are racing against time if they want to find the missing woman alive.

For me, this was a great start to a new series. I enjoyed getting to know Casey and Eric, as well as their dog Storm. I love the setting of a remote town in the middle of a forest in an uninhabited area. There are so many dangers, including animals and other people that are also living there to get away from everything (think preppers or miners). This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Would they find the missing woman? Who was the missing man in cahoots with? I really liked the main characters including Casey's sister, April, a doctor on the autism spectrum who is there as the only medical person. She was a great doctor, one who didn't mince words, but was excellent at her job. the mystery was well plotted and although I thought I had parts of it figured out, there were a lot of red herrings along the way. This was a bit of an adventure story as well as a crime thriller and I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. Once again I did a read/listen, but abandoned the ebook in favour of the audiobook partway in. The narration by Thérèse Plummer was excellent and being as the narrator was Casey, she was the perfect voice. If you like audiobooks, I recommend you listen to this one.

Murder at Haven's Rock was awesome and I gave it 5 ⭐️. The author did a great job capturing my attention. A mystery-suspense I won’t soon forget. Where were the missing people? And what was really going on here?!
I chose to listen to the audiobook and Thérèse Plummer was one of the best narrators I’ve heard. She really made me see everything clearly.
I really liked all the characters, especially Casey and Eric and their dog Storm.
Again a great mystery-suspense I highly recommend.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via NetGalley

Rockton in Alaska had been a haven to countless people for years, but Rockton is no more. The powers that be have destructed the town and everyone is scattered. Haven's Rock is taking its place, sort of. How did Sheriff Eric Dalton and his wife Casey Duncan come up with the name of their new town? The town will still be a HAVEN and it is former ROCKton, thus HAVEN'S ROCK.

Will the newest residents of the town make it a success? From day one with Eric and Casey bringing the population from 0 to 2, they have a firm idea as to how things will be done. The first change is, instead of a committee deciding on the residents, it is up to Eric and Casey who to let in. The main rule is that residents must stay out of the forest. As the town is being built, one of the crew members apparently wanders into the forest and immediately goes missing. Casey and Eric are desperate to locate her, and eliminate any danger that might be facing their new town.

As a fan of the Rockton series, I hated for it to end. No worries at all because Kelley Armstrong has literally come in strong with Haven's Rock. I was curious as to what members from Rockton would reside in Haven's Rock, and I definitely can say that I was not disappointed. Then, factor in suspense from the very beginning and this first book got off to a great start. I am excited, with what will be a bit of an anxious wait, for The Boy Who Cried Bear, set for release February, 2024.

For most of the Rockton books, I had the pleasure of listening to them being narrated by Thérèse Plummer, and I absolutely love the job she did with Haven's Rock, and I hope she will be narrating the second book in the new series as well.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton are back in this new series by Kelley Armstrong. This book follows after the Rockton series, with the pair creating their own community modeled the aforementioned planned sanctuary town. Haven’s Rock is being built in the Yukon wilderness, with the construction workers left in the dark as to the real intentions of the community. Told to stay out of the forest, two crew go missing, moving up the timeline for Casey and Eric to come to town. When a body is discovered, Casey and Eric must find out what happened to the dead woman and locate those still missing.

I wanted to like Murder at Haven's Rock, but there were aspects to the plot that frustrated me. As law enforcement professionals, both Casey and Eric should not have been taken unaware by some of the situations. The way that the town was being built did not make much sense, especially with the need for security. The plot point was needed, but it was obvious that the pair should have recruited the labor from those wanting to live there. I was not a fan of the book itself, but the narrator of the audio version, Thérèse Plummer, did a good job bringing the characters to life. It took me a long time to listen to the book, so I would not recommend Murder at Haven's Rock to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given access to an Advanced Audio Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to write this review was entirely my own.

I really enjoy listening to these books--the narrator is excellent. The plot always seems to be about the same, but I like the characters, the premise and the setting, so I keep listening.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was actually very interesting read! I'm looking into the other series because i am so interested! 5 stars!

Murder at Havens Rock was a wonderful book to listen to. It made me want to go to that town! I loved how descriptive the setting was. The characters were great. You can dive right into the family drama and the plot had just the right amount of suspense to make me not want to stop listening!

Murder at Haven's Rock is the first book in the new Haven's Rock series by Kelley Armstrong, which is a spin-off of her Rockton/Casey Duncan series. I haven't read the other series yet, so I was grateful the author provided enough backstory that I could catch on.

If you are looking for a book to get lost in, this is it! I actually missed text messages from my mother (& made her worry) because I was so engrossed with the section I was reading.

There is so much depth in this book. I found the characters to be fascinating and I look forward to learning more about them! The mystery is intense. There are so many viable suspects and everyone seems to be hiding something. It was awesome!

The narration by Thérèse Plummer was absolutely incredible! I loved how she brought this book to life!

I highly recommend this book! I will definitely be diving into the Rockton/Casey Duncan series because I could not get enough of Murder at Haven's Rock! I can't wait to see what happens next. I know it'll be intense!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Murder At Haven’s Rock
Haven’s Rock #1
Casey Duncan #8


Murder at Haven’s Rock is a fantastic mystery/thriller and brand-new spin off series to Kelly Armstrong’s Rockton series. So yes its best if the prior series has been read but it’s not a requirement as I really enjoyed this novel and will now go back to read the Rockton series because I want to know more about Casey, Erick what led them to Haven’s Rock. The narrative is candid and a bit in your face and compliment the personalities of the main protagonists Casey and Eric, plus Kelly’s excellent storytelling will keep the listener engaged from page one until the end. New readers like me will be antsy to go back to the beginning and find out about the origins and both new and seasoned fans will be anxiously waiting for the next Haven’s Rock installment. Fans of puzzling mysteries, of Rachel Cain, Laura Griffin or Lisa Gardner will love this chilling edgy thriller.

Narration:
Therese Plummer is an excellent choice for this novel, not only is she the perfect Casey and other female roles but she delivers believable male voices and different vocal intonations and accents with perfection. She also manages to add the right amount of emotion or lack thereof in just the right places making this the best choice for the total enjoyment of this novel.

Haven’s Rock is deep in the Yukon wilderness, it wasn’t founded by miners in fact the founders have gone to great lengths to make sure it’s not near any human settlements and have spared no expense to make the town everything they want and need to be as off the grid as possible because Haven’s Rock is for people who don’t want to be found. It’s also the second town of its kind and Detective Casey Duncan, her husband Sheriff Eric Dalton and their rough and tumble crew of inhabitants can’t wait to move in. In fact they’ve hired an assemblage of craftsmen and women who’ve promised to keep their mouths shut and get the town built with no questions asked. Then just before the town is finished Casey and Eric are notified by the construction foreman that two of the builders have gone missing and she needs Casey and Eric to get to Haven’s Rock fast and find them. When they get there its not one of the missing crew they find but a well hidden dead woman’s body. Now they’ve got to locate the missing crew members, discover who the dead stranger is and is her death connected to the two people who are missing?

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to audibly read and review Murder at Haven's Rock.

Narrated by Thérèse Plummer
Published: 02/21/23

Just okay. There is nothing unique to mention. This is an airport book -- leave it in the rental car/hotel for another reader. If you make it to the end okay, if not okay. The ending is not memorable. The narrator is good. She separates the down and dirty disappointment of not bringing a better book and not having anything else to read.

While reading, the characters are comfortable with each other, too comfortable for this to be a standalone book. I have, since finishing, found out the author has another series, and this is Book #1 in a spinoff she is writing. No need to read the previous series, having the spinoff knowledge helps with understanding the ease in which the characters relate.. My mind focused on what did I potentially miss (I really was bored.) as opposed to focusing on the current reading, spinoff answers the question -- I didn't miss anything.

I have lost my notes, and cannot recall if there is profanity. I do recall being exhausted, as if I had run a marathon exhausted, when the long, drawn out ending finally came.

I was disappointed.

When I saw this title pop up I was confused and super excited. Here I was thinking I was never going to get to visit Rockton and Casey and Erik again and then all of a sudden here is Haven's Rock just casually floating out here waiting for me to jump in. Keep in mind this is a "spin off" series but the world is very much established as are the characters and relationships- basically this is Rockton book X just with a new name so I do not recommend starting here.

All that being said, I adore everything about this book/world/series and I am fangirling so hard over here to be able to escape into another dangerous murder mystery with Casey and crew. If you enjoy occasionally gory murder mysteries with lots of police procedural set in the wilds of Alaska/Yukon with no real technology or civilization then this is the series for you. I have been a fan of this author for forever, starting with her urban fantasy series Women of the Otherworld and will gladly read anything she wants to write since she easily does it all and well.

The audiobook narrator does a fantastic job voicing Casey, I can't imagine having anyone else do as good a job and her voice is now Casey's voice to me. I love listening to the audiobooks, they are so well done. I started the series reading the physical book but have since reread them all on audio and recommend the audio for anyone who likes to listen to their stories.

#MurderAtHavensRock:⁣
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Thank you @minotaur_books & @macmillan.audio for my gifted copy!!⁣
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Casey, Eric, Anders, and April are all back in a new series for Haven Rock. They’ve moved on from Rockton and are making their own haven.. Haven’s Rock (rock.. as in Rockton to be exact) but it wouldn’t be a book if there wasn’t a murder investigation along with two missing crew members, right? We get to meet some new characters, while still reuniting with the old. It’s action packed, and of course, the cliffhanger has me pumped for the next one!!⁣
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I did listen on audio and it was such a treat. Thérèse Plummer, as always, won me over. She really gets Casey and Dalton. I love that I can almost hear her flirting with herself (it’s wild to remember it’s one person reading) and I highly recommend the audio⁣
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I’ll be honest, I think I would have been lost if I didn’t love Rockton so much. We have a lot of players that are coming back (Anders is back y’all!!) that I think Armstrong have a decent background on them. However, they went through A LOT in Rockton, and I feel like you would have a deeper appreciation from checking out The Rockton series. ⁣
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So check out Rockton, check out Haven’s Rock. Basically, check out everything Kelley Armstrong writes because she’s one of my favorite authors ever. Audio is amazing. Murder at Haven’s Rock is out now!

The Rockton series was one of my favorite by Kelly Armstrong so for this little spin off I absolutely loved it. I love listening along trying to figure out the murder. There was so much vivid description it was almost like I was in the study the suspense was amazing and it's everything you would want in a mystery domestic suspense. The narrator was an amazing choice to read this book as they had me wanting to listen for hours on end

A fantastic start to the new series, can't wait to see who joins them in Haven's Rock. I love that Kelley Armstrong went to the Yukon to complete research for the Rockton novels and is still using that knowledge for the new series.

Therese Plummer did a great job narrating this novel and I am looking forward to listening to the rest of this series.

I didn't realize this was a follow-up to an earlier book that I had already read until I started it. It was well done - providing enough reminders of the previous story for those that read it or enough background info for those that didn't. Can definitely stand on its own. This was a great mystery in a unique setting. Loved the wilderness aspect and the strong characters. Hoping for a third in this series! Thank you to MacMillan audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

I liked this book. It’s well written and kept me reading .
I do like Kelley’s writing. Her stories always have me hooked and I always can never put them down.

I recommend.

I listened to this as an audiobook. The story line was good, but I didn't realize it was a spinoff of another story, which they kept referring to. I had enough information to follow the current story line, but probably could have benefited from reading the original story first. Overall, it was a good listen. I was engaged with the story and didn't want it to end. There was a lot of suspense and it kept you guessing. The narrator was exceptionally good and would definitely seek out other books read by her.

The saddest part about finishing Murder at Haven's rock is that I know I'm going to have to wait a long time for the next book in the series. Armstrong did a good job making Haven's Rock feel like Rockton, while making it its own place with its own problems. Casey & Dalton remain the dream team, and readers will love the cameos by old friends, combined with the complex and flawed nature of some of the new characters. Narration on the audiobook is superb.

Therese Plummer once again shines as the narrator in this spin-off/continuation of the Rockton series. I will say I understand the spin-off premise but this feels so close to the last series that it is truly only a spin-off in the location sense. A lot of the issues and players are the same and it ends on a cliff with much more to come. I enjoyed the Rockton series and I have no doubt that this series will continue in that vein. Therese Plummer is one of my favorite audiobook narrators for a reason!