She Treads Softly: She Fell Away

Sunday, February 15, 2026

She Fell Away

She Fell Away by Lenore Nash
3/10/26; 352 pages
Atria Books
Lake Harlowe #1

She Fell Away by Lenore Nash is a highly recommended mystery and is the first book in a new series featuring Lake Harlowe, a U. S. State Department diplomat.

Lake Harlowe has recently accepted a new appointment in Wellington, New Zealand, when she receives a notice that American NFL player Bruce Walter has been found dead, seemingly from an accidental overdose. Part of her job is to support American citizens who are traveling abroad. This also includes notifying the next of kin if necessary, but when contacting Bruce's wealthy family, his father, Glen, immediately becomes threatening and combative. Quickly following this, an exchange student from Las Vegas, 18-year-old singer/songwriter Bowie Bishop, is reported missing by her mother Suzie. Suzie, a former rock star, is currently a cocktail waitress at a Las Vegas casino owned by Glen Walter. As Lake tries to assist in the search for Bowie, the search quickly ties into something more nefarious and ties into wide spread corruption.

The writing is good and very descriptive, but the pace was slow to take off. The pace does pick up in time, and the atmosphere becomes oppressive, melancholy, and suspenseful as the psychological complexity of the characters and the situation they find themselves involved with is slowly revealed. Several of the plot twists are largely predictable, so the journey the narrative sends you on must hold your interest, which it does to some extent. As the plot develops the novel does become more compelling and interesting, but while reading I felt like I had heard this story before.

Chapters are mainly told through the point-of-view of Lake, with some from Bowie. Some of the chapters follow a non-linear timeline. Lake is a complicated, unique character and there are several small insights into her troubled past. Bowie is an interesting character and actually better developed than Lake. The lyrics to some of the songs she is writing are included. This seems to be a new trend in current novels. If I'm being honest, I am quickly becoming weary of reading novels about aspiring musicians which include their song lyrics.

She Fell Away by Lenore Nash could be a good choice for those who enjoy mysteries and want to read the book starting a new series. 3.5 rounded up. Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. 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.