Winter At The Door by Sarah Graves (thoughts)

Winter At The Door starts the beginning of a new mystery series that felt like a perfect read for this time of the year.  It actually made me wish there was more snow on the ground thanks to the setting of this book.  I love mysteries where multiple storylines pull me in and keep me reading which is exactly what this book did.  This book has me really excited to see just what this author comes up with next!

In this book, Lizzie Snow is a police officer who moves to a small town in Maine in the hope of searching for her niece.  Years ago her infant niece went missing and Lizzie's search for her has led her to this remote area of wilderness.  Lizzie is used to being a cop in the big city but she isn't prepared to find herself drawn into a possible murder investigation.  The police chief of Bearkill doesn't believe that the apparent suicides of a few former cops are unrelated and asks Lizzie to investigate.   Lizzie soon finds herself drawn into multiple investigations as she searches for her niece and tries to find the answers to what really happened to these men.  What she doesn't realize is how much danger she is already in....

I feel like I have been really lucky lately when it comes to finding new mystery authors to enjoy and this is another book to add to that list.  This book captured my interest from the very beginning because there were just so many questions without answers.  The reader is just given the barest details when it comes to Lizzie's missing niece and what happened to Lizzie's dead sister.  This had me instantly intrigued.  Then she is pulled into this possible murder/suicide investigation where the only person that really seems to know that she is involved in it is the police chief himself.  Add to that all of these other secondary characters and their questionable motivations and it was a recipe for success for me.  I was completely caught up within the pages trying to figure everything out.  Because there were so many different things going on, this book was a really fast read.  I mentioned this earlier when I was talking about this book but I found myself reading this one when I shouldn't have been.  Like when I was attempting to cook dinner (not a good idea when you aren't that great of a cook in the first place).  Honestly, I just couldn't put this book down.

One of my favorite things about this book was the setting.  I love books where you feel like you are right there in the character's own little world.  The author turned the snow, cold, and isolation of the area into a presence that really made the book a bit creepy at times.  I could just imagine getting lost in the wilderness with no one around.  It really added to the suspense in the book in a great way!  The ending of the book wrapped things up quite well. Without giving too much away, the author did a really nice job of guaranteeing that I will be reading the second book as some of the storylines didn't have resolutions.  In some books this might bother me but it actually worked quite well with this one.  I liked that we didn't get all of the answers....it just makes me that much more eager to pick up the second book! 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book!  It was the perfect winter read and in my opinion should be read on a dark, cold night.  I'm looking forward to the second book and getting some of those questions answered that were left open in this one.  Fast paced and hard to put down...just how I like my mysteries!  I definitely think that fans of mysteries and suspense should definitely give this one a try!  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A great start to a new series and one that left me ready for more!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher.  Thoughts are my own!