ARC Review: Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson

Her Dying Day
Author: Mindy Carlson
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (June 7, 2022)

Description: Perfect for fans of Shari Lapena and Hannah Mary McKinnon, a mystery writer’s sudden disappearance leads a budding filmmaker down a dark road to treachery, murder, and long-buried sins.

Aspiring filmmaker June Masterson has high hopes for her first documentary, the true story of the disappearance of famed mystery author Greer Larkin. June learned about the vanishing at age fourteen, locked down on her family’s isolated commune. Now, the deeper she digs into the project, the darker the story gets.

Everyone has a theory. Greer’s mother, Blanche, and her best friend, Rachel, believe that Greer’s fiancé, Jonathan, is the culprit. Greer’s agent is convinced that Greer committed suicide after a debilitating bout of writer’s block. And Jonathan claims it was either Greer’s controlling mother or Rachel, whose attachment to Greer went way beyond friendship.

In desperation, Rachel gives June a suitcase full of Greer’s most personal writings in hopes of finding proof against Jonathan. Then Rachel turns up dead. As June pores over Greer’s writings, she makes a devastating discovery that could finally reveal the truth about the author’s fate. But now, June finds herself in the sights of a killer who’ll stop at nothing to keep their darkest secret.

My Thoughts: This debut mystery tells the story of aspiring filmmaker June Masterson - actually named Pear Blossom Jubilee Masterson - who is searching for her final project. She decides to try to solve the mystery of one of the favorite authors of her childhood who disappeared under suspicious circumstances twenty years earlier. 

June finds herself heading down dark trails and disturbing a villain who has hidden the truth about the events of Greer Larkin's disappearance. She has a good number of possible suspects from Greer's uber-rich and controlling mother Blanche, to her best friend Rachel, to her agent Bethany Allen, to her former fiancé Jonathan Vanderpoole. All had some reasons why they might have wanted Greer dead. Though most of them are certain that Jonathan had the most reasons.

June is busy trying to get interviews, find police records, track down witnesses from the time while at the same time conducting an affair with her married advisor Paul. Jane sees lots of parallels with her own life in Greer's. June was kept isolated on a commune hidden in the Adirondacks by her very protective parents. Since walking out with all her belongings at age 18, she hasn't communicated with her parents in any way. She equates her mother's own need to keep her overly sheltered with Blanche's determination to do the same with Greer.

When she is given a suitcase of notes, journals and other detritus by Rachel, she combs the material to try to find clues. When Rachel is killed by a hit-and-run driver and June receives threats that echo those in Greer's six best-selling books, the stakes and the dangers increase exponentially.

I liked the story and liked June though I had some questions about her relationship with Paul. I also found the excerpts from Greer's own novels to be pretty sophomoric - not altogether surprising for novels written by a teenager - but could understand why June, who discovered them as a teenager herself, was so intrigued with the author and her stories. 

The plot was nicely twisty and some of the revelations were sort of left dangling, but it was an enjoyable mystery.

Favorite Quote:

If jumping at shadows were an Olympic sport, I'd have been getting gold medals all week. It didn't help that I'd barely slept, or that I'd dropped food for straight caffeine consumption.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.