Home At Night by Paula Munier

Series Name: Mercy Carr Mystery Book #5
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: October 17, 2023
Format: Print, Digital, Audio

Beware the blackbirds…

It’s Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two dogs, and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr’s small cabin. She needs more room—and she knows just the place: Grackle Tree Farm, with thirty acres of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor to die for. They say it’s haunted by the ghosts of missing children and lost poets and a murderer or two, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in the library.

There’s something about Grackle Tree Farm that people are willing to kill for—and Mercy needs to figure out what before they move in. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden treasure that may be worth a fortune—if it’s real. She and Captain Thrasher conduct a search of the old place—and end up at the wrong end of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take him down before he murders them all. Under fire, she and Elvis manage to run the guy off, but not before they are wounded, leaving Thrasher fighting for his life in the hospital, Mercy on crutches, and Elvis on the mend.

Now it’s up to Mercy and Troy and the dogs to track down the masked murderer in a county overflowing with leaf peepers, Halloween revelers, and treasure hunters and bring him to justice before he strikes again and the treasure is lost forever, along with the good name of Grackle Tree Farm….

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Dru’s Short Musing:
Like fine wine, this series gets better with each book written. Mercy and Troy are newlyweds living in a full cabin. All goes well as Mercy checks out their dream home, that is until a dead body is found in the library, possibly murdered. Who is he and who wanted him dead?

This is a well-written drama that quickly became a page-turner as I had to know who was doing what to whom and why. The author did a great job in providing a riveting and enticingly complex multi-plot mystery with a suspect pool that included poets, Druids, and others. It’s Halloween with ghosts, goblins and ghouls and the visually descriptive narrative puts you in the mood for spooky revelations and murder most fowl. Following the trail left by the author kept me in the game as the more we learn, the more intriguing this all became, and I could not stop reading until all was said and done. There were several strategically placed twists, a nice surprise, and even some comical relief that enhanced how well this story was being told. The home quotes at the beginning of each chapter fit in perfectly. This is one of my favorite series and Home At Night is the best book in this enduring series.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.