In Granite Harbor Maine, a local teenager has been found brutally murdered. Enter Alex Brangwen! He is a failed novelist turned detective. He is determined to find out who has destroyed his peaceful town.

Alex is a character which is not as tough as you would expect a police detective to be. I mean…he was a novelist in a past life. He also lets his ex-wife run over him. Until…he doesn’t. When his own daughter goes missing, he is a bear!

This story is a bit slow, especially in the beginning…I mean you have got to have a good set up… right?!?! And these characters really pull you in to this guessing game! And to be honest, I did not figure out who the killer was until the author wanted me to know.

Now, this has some pretty gruesome scenes in this tale. So, if that is a trigger…you have been warned.

The narrator, Peter Ganim, is one of my favorites. He has been a narrator of quite a few books I have enjoyed.

Need a good thriller…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

Granite Harbor is an unusual book. The premise is interesting but like a lot of other books: small town, missing teenagers, possible serial killer. Sounds good but nothing unique, nothing that grabs you . . . until you read a couple of chapters and realize you are already completely immersed. Author Peter Nichols fills this story with people surprisingly fascinating and different than expected, situations and events that you don’t see coming, and so many twists and turns and shocks that you won’t want to put it down until the mystery is solved, the killer is identified.

Alex Brangwen is one of those unexpectedly fascinating people. An Englishman who was a novelist when a whirlwind romance and marriage brought him to the United States and eventually to Granite Harbor. Things are a little different than those early days, though. Novelist: failed. Marriage: failed. Alex is now Granite Harbor’s sole detective. He shares a daughter, Sophie, with his ex. They get along well enough to co-parent, but once Morgana realized she wasn’t married to a soon-to-be-famous novelist she returned to her high society self without Alex. Loving Maine, never even considering leaving Sophie, Alex became a policeman and then a detective. He’s content – well, content enough anyway. And now it’s his job to solve this crime and make sure no more teenagers are taken and murdered.

Isabel Dorr is also a single parent, to son Ethan. Widowed eleven years ago, she’s still stuck in grief and losing her husband and Ethan’s father has been difficult on them both. Difficulties at work for Isabel, at school for Ethan. They’re making do, but barely. There was at one time a little spark, a barely started what-if relationship between Alex and Isabel but things got complicated and it ended.

Granite Harbor is so good, so compelling, that to say much more about the plot would introduce major spoilers. The Granite Harbor Living History Settlement as well as some rough, wooded country of Maine plays a major role – and some of the people, some of what goes on, is nothing short of weird. Once the killings start the story takes off and you just have to hang on. It’s one of those books so full of suspense your brain is churning, trying to figure out who the murderer is and how to prevent the next murder from happening. At the start, you can read a couple of chapters and put the book aside, but at some point your brain goes from merely churning to frantically churning. So many suspects to worry about. And even once you learn who the killer is, instead of calming down, your brain becomes even more frantic, because now you have to warn the potential next victims: Go! Run! Hide! What? What can you tell them? How can you tell them? Everything will be okay, though, won’t it? Your favorite characters will live happily ever after, won’t they? Well, maybe a little trauma, but they will be alive and breathing. Not dead. Or will they? And you absolutely cannot put this book down anymore.

The characters are so well drawn. Alex is complex, Isabel is heartbreaking, especially when she “sees” things that terrify her. Supporting cast is varied with a multitude of secrets. The words, the pace, the plot: excellent.

Thanks to Celadon Books for providing an advance copy of Granite Harbor via NetGalley. As always, I am proud and happy to be a Celadon Reader because their selection of books is the absolute best. Peter Nichols has written a suspenseful, startling, satisfying book that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend without hesitation. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. ( )

Granite Harbor is my first suspense novel by Peter Nichols. This was a definite slow burn for me, things didn't really heat up until about halfway through, but once they did it went by fast. This was a 4 star read for me.

I will state here at the top that there are trigger warnings for sexual abuse and mistreatment of animals.

Alex, a former novelist turned detective, has his first murder case in the small town of Granite Harbor, Maine. A teenage boy is found in the Settlement, a tourist attraction in the area. Shane and his best friends Jared and Ethan had been out skateboarding, and when Jared and Ethan decided to call it a night, Shane headed out in the other direction. So what happened to Shane in that short amount of time? Alex's daughter Sophie and Ethan become close in their grief for their friend, although their parents aren't really on speaking terms anymore. Alex's ex-wife Morgana can't handle Sophie anymore, and Alex doesn't have time for her drama. When another teenage boy is found dead, and Sophie and Ethan end up missing, Alex and Isabel, Ethan's mom, must work together to save their children.

This was a slow burn with a lot of characters, and the chapters regularly change focus from one to another, which was confusing at times. If the chapters would have had a name or something so that you knew who the chapter centered around, that would have been helpful.

With that said, the writing was good, and once the action started the pacing went quickly with some definite suprises and twists. The characters are likeable for the most part, and the majority of them had good backstories. Some chapters were in the past, skipping through the life of one of the characters, although you won't know who.

All in all, a good small-town suspenseful mystery with twists you won't see coming, family drama, grief, and friendship.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @CeladonBooks for a digital copy for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own. ( )

Granite Harbor is the name of a small town in Maine that holds tightly to its past. It’s a quiet town where a British writer who has run out of stories can get a job as the town’s only police department detective. Alex Brangwen followed his wife to Maine where they soon divorced after his writing career folded. He stays because they share custody of their teenage daughter Sophie and he is a good father. He’s a decent police detective.

Granite Harbor has a colonial history that is honored by The Settlement, a small historical reenactment village. Isabel, a former teacher digging herself out of the hold she and alcohol dug, has just started working there. It’s one of those towns where people recognize each other on the streets. But then there is a murder, a grotesque murder of a high school student, a close friend of Isabel’s son Ethan.

Ethan is a great kid. He joins Sophie and his friend Jared in mourning their friend. Then Jared is murdered and Alex and Isabel begin to fear their children are next.

Peter Nichols creates a Granite Harbor with streets you can walk down, salt breezes you can taste, and people you know nearly as well as your neighbors. The sense of place and multi-layered character-building are delicious. The setting and the people are perfect for the police procedural that readers will expect.

But things take a turn. The murder is grotesque and the murderer’s back story is bound to traumatize even the toughest reader. This backstory is the sort of thing that is found in horror stories. It was too out of sync with the setting and the characters. It felt like a betrayal.

And then, it violates the rules of The Detection Club. There’s Rule Two: “All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.” This is especially annoying when old-fashioned police work gets there on its own. There are also too few people who could be possible suspects so you will solve the mystery too quickly.

I am annoyed because the place and people promise so much and it should have been a great mystery if only it were not so horrific.

Granite Harbor will be released on April 30th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Granite Harbor at Celadon Books
Peter Nichols on Wikipedia

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/granite-harbor-by-peter-n... ( )

Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols is a recommended murder mystery/police procedural set in Granite Harbor, Maine.

Police detective Alex Brangwen was a novelist in Great Britain before he moved to Granite Harbor. Now he is a divorced, single father and the sole detective on the police force. When a local teenager is found brutally murdered in the Settlement, the town’s historic archaeological site, Alex is the one who must find the killer. His teenage daughter, Sophie, was a friend of the victim and his friends.

This is a character driven murder mystery with gruesome murder scenes, which some readers may want to take into consideration. This novel veers more toward horror so those who enjoy that genre mixed with a procedural may like it more than I did.

The narrative is told through the point-of-view of Alex and Isabel Dorr, a parent of one of the teens and a character player at the Settlement site. There are also chapters sharing information about the killer's past incorporated through out the novel, although the identity is hidden. From the opening we understand that the killer may still have the teens in his sights. Take note that there is a twist in the plot further along that was too incredulous for me to accept the sudden insertion of it.

As a character driven novel, developing the characters into believable, sympathetic, unique individuals is essential. Alex and Isabel achieved this level of development, but the other characters fell short. Alex was the most fully realized character and if another novel featured him I would likely give it a read. Thanks to Celadon 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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