In A Fine Year for Murder by Lauren Carr, Jessica Faraday and her husband of 10 months, Murphy Thornton, have dinner with friends and Jessica’s father, Mac. Investigative reporter Dallas Walker tells them all about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, where 15 years earlier, an entire family was bludgeoned to death, including 16-year-old Ava, who first was reported as missing before people discovered her body. Jessica builds up more and more tension as the discussion grows until she announces that she knew Ava and then leaves the room.
The next morning, Mac confronts Jessica because the details about the case he learned from Dallas the night before have caused him to believe that Jessica actually witnessed the murder of at least Jessica. When Murphy intervenes, he becomes convinced that Mac is right and that Jessica has been repressing her memories, which have been coming out in nightmares that have caused Jessica to attack Murphy in her sleep. Thus, in consultation with the other family, they determine that it is time for Jessica to get to the truth and lay old horrors to rest.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to A Fine Year for Murder, which kept me listening avidly. The mystery has several strands to it, relating the present and the past and bringing them together in a highly creative and dramatic manner. The past influences corruption that Jessica and Murphy uncover as they try to find the truth about Jessica’s past and the murder of Ava.
I appreciated the well- drawn characters, seeing Jessica and Murphy as real individuals, which was quite a feat of writing, since Murphy holds an extra secret special forces position within the military and is especially lethal when threatened. I appreciated the way that Murphy has to deal with killing a man, even though it was done purely in self- defense. As a human, he still feels conflicted and regretful over his actions despite his military training and the fact that the killing was done entirely in self- defense. I also enjoyed the character of Nigel, a computer with special abilities to respond vocally to people’s needs and do quick research. Nigel clearly is a computer and behaves as a computer, yet he also is a real character in the book, leading to a fun individual.
C.J. McAllister performs the audio edition of A Fine Year for Murder, sounding low and slightly gruff as he narrates the book. He performs the voices of the various characters in a believable manner, complete with credible accents for each one, from the Texan accent of Dallas Walker to the Virginia accents of the residents of Pine Bridge Bend and the less strong accents of Jessica and Murphy. The audiobook has turned out to be even better than I can imagine the visual copy of the book might be.
I highly loved listening to A Fine Year for Murder. I had not gotten deeply into the two previous books by Carr that I listened to, but this book kept me riveted. In fact, I ended up staying up late into the night in order to complete the book because I couldn’t put it down. I now intend to go back to the other books by Carr and revisit them. I give this book five stars!
Disclaimer: I received this Audiobook for free to review through Audiobook Nexus, but that had no influence on the content of my review.
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