Review: Hope's Peak by Tony Healey

A Mysterious Review of Hope's Peak by Tony Healey. A Harper and Lane Mystery.

Review summary: The murder mystery storyline has the potential to be an intriguing investigation despite a rather weak cast of characters. But it all seems to develop and proceed formulaically. This isn’t a bad mystery by any means, but it’s not the compelling one it could have been. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Hope's Peak
Tony Healey
A Harper and Lane Mystery
Thomas & Mercer (January 2017)

Publisher synopsis: Beyond the shores of Hope's Peak, North Carolina, evil waits as his next victim approaches. He'll make her a princess like the others …

Detective Jane Harper can't shake the image of the young woman discovered in a field — eyes closed, a crown of woven vines on her head. She expects macabre murders like this in her native San Francisco, not here. Jane and her partner, Stu, vow to catch the killer, but in this town, that's easier said than done. The police department is in the grips of a wide-reaching scandal that could topple the entire force, and Jane and Stu face a series of dead ends. Until they meet Ida Lane.

Ida knows too well the evil that lurks in the cornfields. Tortured by her mother's murder years before, Ida is paralyzed by the fear that she could be next. As the killer grows bolder, Jane must persuade Ida to use her remarkable gifts to help in the investigation. It's a decision that brings them closer to the killer … maybe too close.