Title: The Coroner
Author: Jennifer Graeser Dornbush
Published: August 2018, Crooked Lane Books
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Source: Publisher via Publicist
Summary:
Summoned from her
promising surgical career first to her estranged father’s bedside, and
then his post as medical examiner when his small town needs urgent help
with a suspicious death, Emily Hartford discovers home is where the
bodies are in this pitch perfect mystery debut.
Recently
engaged and deeply ensconced in her third year of surgical residency in
Chicago, Emily Hartford gets a shock when she’s called home to Freeport,
MI, the small town she fled a decade ago after the death of her mother.
Her estranged father, the local medical examiner, has had a massive
heart attack and Emily is needed urgently to help with his recovery.
Not
sure what to expect, Emily races home, blowing the only stoplight at
the center of town and getting pulled over by her former high school
love, now Sheriff, Nick Larson. At the hospital, she finds her father in
near total denial of the seriousness of his condition. He insists that
the best thing Emily can do to help him is to take on the autopsy of a
Senator’s teen daughter whose sudden, unexplained death has just rocked
the sleepy town.
Reluctantly agreeing to help her father and
Nick, Emily gets down to work, only to discover that the girl was
murdered. The autopsy reminds her of her many hours in the morgue with
her father when she was a young teen—a time which inspired her love of
medicine. Before she knows it, she’s pulled deeper into the case and
closer to her father and to Nick—much to the dismay of her big city
fiance. When a threat is made to Emily herself, she must race to catch
the killer before he strikes again in The Coroner, expertly written and sharply plotted, perfect for fans of Patricia Cornwell and Julia Spencer Fleming.
My thoughts: It’s no surprise that I enjoy mystery and crime thrillers, so of course I said I would read and review this book. I love that the author herself is the daughter of a medical examiner – I think that just adds to the intrigue and authenticness of the book. She herself got involved in the medical examiner world at the age of 10! How cool is that?
I really enjoyed this debut mystery and I really hope it is the start of a series, especially with that ending we are left with! My goodness – talk about a cliffhanger! But as to the rest of the story – this mystery really did keep me guessing and being that I read a ton of mysteries, that’s saying something.
I liked that Emily is a realistic, yet flawed character. She has issues! She has unresolved conflict with her father that really needs to be dealt with before she can move on with her life. Running away all those years ago really did nothing more than put her head in the sand. These secrets need to be dealt with and while we all know that nothing drives a story like a good secret, at some point, that secret needs to be dealt with. But I also liked that she is not afraid to stick to her guns when it comes to working on this case! She’s got gumption and I like that!!!
I liked that the mystery was well thought out and we were given just enough clues here and there that the identity of the guilty person wasn’t easily guessed. There were plenty of red herrings thrown our way to keep us on our toes with just enough twists to keep it suspenseful without going overboard.
This book had just the right mix of good characters, an interesting plot, a good mystery and a little romance to keep you engaged throughout. Throw in some long-buried secrets and family drama and you have an engaging story that is hard to put down. I really enjoyed this book and will be keeping an eye out for a potential sequel or next installment in what I hope becomes a new series!
You got me at Patricia Cornwell.