56. Front Page Murder

Front Page Murder. (A Homefront News Mystery #1) Joyce St. Anthony. 2022. [March] 304 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Pop taught me a lot about the newspaper business. Unfortunately, he neglected to tell me the sentence I'd hear most often was That's not how your father would do it.

Premise/plot: Irene Ingram has taken over her father's newspaper business, the Progress Herald. It's a small town; the news is usually equally small. But a series of small-time crimes lead to the ultimate crime...one of the paper's own is murdered while working on a lead to a story. While the Chief of Police initially rules the death accidental, Irene becomes suspicious when she discovers a note on his desk. She decides--for better or worse--to work on the case (and the story) herself until she has enough proof to take it to the police. What she discovers is that not everyone in town is flag-waving, or, as the case may be waving the American flag...

My thoughts:  I really enjoyed this one. I did. I loved the setting--small town America during the second world war. I enjoyed getting to know the characters. I love that we get a feel for her life--not just as a detective on one specific case, but her actual life. It makes the story feel more genuine to know that she has grown up in this community, that she has friends, that she has a family that she loves dearly.

I liked that this one is well-peopled; there are plenty of suspects and plenty of clues. Perhaps here and there I got a wee bit confused keeping all the details straight. But I think that is more my fault than the author's fault. Perhaps if I'd read it in one sitting instead of three, I'd have had no trouble keeping track of all the town's residents. 

Would recommend to fans of mysteries AND fans of war fiction.

 

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