She Treads Softly: Middletide

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Middletide

Middletide by Sarah Crouch
6/11/24; 288 pages
Atria

Middletide by Sarah Crouch is an atmospheric literary murder mystery and a story of love lost and found. This debut novel is highly recommended

In the small Puget Sound town of Point Orchards the body of Dr. Erin Landry is found on the property of Elijah Leith. He grew up there, left to become a writer, and after thirteen years he recently returned to live in his deceased father's cabin. Elijah's one book was published and was an abysmal failure after being panned from one critic. Now he is fixing up the cabin, trying to live off the land, and hoping to reconnect with Nakita, his first love.

When Sheriff Jim Godbout’s investigates Erin's death, it initially appears to be a suicide, but suspicions arise that point to murder. Then one of the few published copies of Elijah's book is sent anonymously to the Sheriff's department. The murder in the book seems to match Erin's death. It appears someone is trying to frame Elijah for murder. The question is who would perpetrate this and what would be their motive.

The descriptive writing is quite extraordinary in this debut literary novel that follows a trail of love, loss, and revenge. The setting is the star of the novel and comes to life. Elijah's struggles to build a life for himself and living off the land after his writing failure is interesting, as is the lost love story line. The murder mystery is also intriguing, but the investigation seems inept at times.

A few details in the plot do require some suspension of disbelief, but I found it easy to do so while focusing on the strengths of the writing. The events in Middletide span dates from 1973 to 1994. The dates are clearly given at the opening of each chapter so readers can keep the time period in mind, although the moving between time periods was a bit too frequent. I'll be looking forward to Crouch's next novel. Thanks to Atria for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.