ARC Review: Home at Night by Paula Munier

Home at Night
Author: Paula Munier
Series: A Mercy Carr Mystery (Book 5)
Publication: Minotaur Books (October 17, 2023)

Description: Beware the blackbirds…

It’s Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two dogs, and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr’s small cabin. She needs more room―and she knows just the place: Grackle Tree Farm, with thirty acres of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor to die for. They say it’s haunted by the ghosts of missing children and lost poets and a murderer or two, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in the library.

There’s something about Grackle Tree Farm that people are willing to kill for―and Mercy needs to figure out what before they move in. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden treasure that may be worth a fortune―if it’s real. She and Captain Thrasher conduct a search of the old place―and end up at the wrong end of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take him down before he murders them all. Under fire, she and Elvis manage to run the guy off, but not before they are wounded, leaving Thrasher fighting for his life in the hospital, Mercy on crutches, and Elvis on the mend.

Now it’s up to Mercy and Troy and the dogs to track down the masked murderer in a county overflowing with leaf peepers, Halloween revelers, and treasure hunters and bring him to justice before he strikes again and the treasure is lost forever, along with the good name of Grackle Tree Farm….

My Thoughts: Newly married Mercy Carr is house hunting. She and Troy along with her friends and their dogs no longer fit into her small cabin. She gets a heads-up that Grackle Tree Farm will be going on the market. Grackle Tree Farm was the home of famous poet Euphemia Whitney-Jones but a family feud had caused the house to be abandoned after her death and held in trust until Euphemia's sister died. 

Mercy has always been fascinated by the house even though it has long had the reputation of being haunted by a long-dead mother looking for her child. Mercy remembers one Halloween adventure when she was young and explored it. She and Troy are eager to tour the property but aren't expecting a dead body in the library.

And that is only the first dead body. 

Seems like Mercy is in the middle of another murder investigation. There are lots of suspects including the local poetry society, a group of druids, and poachers who want to send endangered species to foreign countries for big profits. 

Mercy has also just discovered that she is pregnant which is causing a shift in her thinking especially regarding how eagerly she thrusts herself into danger. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of Halloween in New England. I also really liked watching Mercy uncover the past and solve a number of the secrets housed in Grackle Tree Farm. I also like Mercy's relationship with her dog Elvis and her relationship with Troy's dog Susie Bear. 

This story was a great addition to the series. 

Favorite Quote:

Monique leaned in as if to tell her a secret. "They say you're buying that old place. You know it's haunted, right?"

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