Thin Ice

October 1, 2019
Prolific Shelton (The Loch Ness Papers, 2019, etc.) kicks off a new series featuring a traumatized heroine who flees to Alaska seeking safety. Beth Rivers, an author who writes thrillers under the name Elizabeth Fairchild, spent three days in a van with an obsessed fan/kidnapper before leaping out of the moving vehicle. After having been hospitalized for injuries that required brain surgery, she's looking for a place to stay where no one will find her, and she settles on the remote town of Benedict, Alaska. The only ways to get to Benedict are by air or water, and the only one who knows Beth's true identity is Police Chief Gril Samuels, who sends park ranger Donner Montgomery to pick her up at the airfield because Gril's busy with an unexplained death. Beth's plan to stay at Benedict House is almost derailed when she discovers that the hotel is actually a halfway house for female criminals, currently three shoplifters who do odd jobs around town. Beth's father vanished when she was young, and her mother has spent years looking for him. Beth, raised mostly by her police-chief grandfather, worked for the department as a secretary, though her math and analytical skills sometimes pressed her into service as a crime-scene tech. Now she carries burner phones to keep in touch with her doctor and the detective back home who's working her case. Unable to remember everything that happened to her, she thinks her kidnapper's name is Levi Brooks but can't picture his face until she starts having flashbacks. Curious about the death of Benedict local Linda Rafferty, which could be murder or suicide, Beth takes up Gril's offer to be his consultant and also run the local newspaper, giving her a chance to research Rafferty's death as she searches for Levi Brooks. In the process, she discovers that she's far from the only person in Benedict with something to hide. A page-turner with an unusual location and a coda that provides more questions than answers.

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October 7, 2019
This disappointing series launch from bestseller Shelton (the Scottish Bookshop mysteries) introduces Beth Rivers, a thriller author and recent kidnap victim, who flees from St. Louis to Benedict, Alaska, to hide from her attacker. With limited lodging available, Beth stays at Benedict House, a halfway house for criminals, where she does her best to acclimate herself to living with felons. When the Benedict police chief asks her to take over the village’s newspaper, Beth’s decision to write an article on the mysterious death of local Linda Rafferty lands her in the middle of a murder investigation. Her experience as a secretary for a small-town police department comes in handy. As she talks to a town full of potential suspects, she quickly realizes she’s not the only one hiding from something in Benedict. Too many unresolved subplots overshadow the intriguing setup and distinctive setting. In the end, Beth’s reason for moving to Alaska proves more interesting than the mystery behind Rafferty’s death. Agent: Jessica Faust, Bookends Literary.

October 1, 2019
Physically and mentally reeling from her recent kidnapping by a stalker?she escaped, but he wasn't caught?author Beth Rivers hits the road, hiding in the small town of Benedict, Alaska. She arrives with only a backpack and a typewriter, adding to local suspicion of this newcomer; worse, she's the only paying guest in what is otherwise a halfway house for women criminals. Thanks to her police-officer grandfather, Beth has some knowledge of law enforcement, which comes in handy when a local woman, Linda Rafferty, is found dead. The death is ruled a suicide, but locals aren't convinced. Shelton's portrayal of the bonds between people that are an essential component of life in a rough environment is a highlight here; the ties that Beth forms and reluctantly relies upon save her from the more frightening elements of the two mysteries at play?whether she can remember enough about her kidnapper to put him away, and what happened to Linda Rafferty. Readers are left wondering up to the last exciting page what the answers are, and will eagerly await the second in this new Alaska mysteries series from the author of the Scottish Bookshop mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from December 1, 2019

Renowned thriller writer Elizabeth Fairchild was kidnapped by a crazed fan but managed to escape after three days. Now, under her real name, Beth Rivers, she's run as far as she can, to the isolated village of Benedict, AK. Her kidnapper hasn't been caught yet. With only a few memories of her ordeal and the man's name stuck in her head, she's going to hide until either the police or her determined mother find the man. She attracts attention as a newcomer, but everyone in Benedict seems to be hiding or escaping from the past. The police chief knows who she is and recruits her to use her skills to help with a murder investigation. The case keeps Beth occupied, while she tries to remember her ordeal and looks over her shoulder with every unusual sound. VERDICT Known for her cozy mysteries (The Loch Ness Papers), Shelton turns thriller author for this riveting story with an unusual setting and cast of characters. Fans of strong amateur sleuths will admire Beth's struggle to build a new future in a remote location. Readers of Vicki Delany's "Molly Smith" books, set in British Columbia, will also enjoy. [See Prepub Alert, 6/3/19.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019

Cozy author Shelton does something a little different with a series first that features Beth Rivers, better known as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, who's on the run after escaping a fanatic who had kidnapped her and locked her in a van for three days. Now she's hiding out in far-off Alaska, getting along with the locals--even if she did goof by booking a room at a halfway house--when a suspected murder gets her thinking that her erstwhile kidnapper has come to town. Following the LJ-starred The Loch Ness Papers.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.