Hidden in the Pines

Hidden in the Pines is the second book of a tie-in series to Loon Lake by Victoria Houston. Released 10th Jan 2023 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out in Dec 2022. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The author is a competent storyteller and the book is redolent with scenes of small town life and rural living. She's clearly familiar with the outdoorsy life and it adds a great deal of verisimilitude to the story. The action is mostly straightforward; there aren't a lot of twists and turns and few red-herrings to confuse along the way.

Protagonist Lew Ferris is just starting her job as the newly-elected sheriff of McBride county in the Wisconsin northwoods, and she's already dealing with a tragic drowning death/murder? with creepy parallels to a case from 3 decades before, money laundering with dangerous potential to harm the people she loves, as well as heaping helpings of sexism and an entrenched "old boys" network. No time for trout fishing in her near future.

This is a standalone series and it doesn't seem necessary to be familiar with the author's other series to follow along here. It's a procedural(ish) mystery and the denouement and resolution were satisfying and complete. This is book 2, and there are 19 books extant in her other series, so it might be a good candidate for a binge read. 

Three and a half stars. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.