Silent Gavel (A Crawford Mystery Book 1) by Merissa Racine – Review by Alexandria Richard

Silent Gavel by Merissa Racine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting take on investigative who-did-it mystery

This one started off slow for me, but once it ramped up in the second half, I was hooked. This book is written in the second person format and I have come to find those stories harder for me to be swept away with because I feel so removed.

I did enjoy getting to know Lauren and the roll of a stenographer in the court proceedings. While we get to meet the Detective in his official capacity here, with viewing Lauren as the suspect, I do like him as a character and hope to see more, and see if he develops into a love interest down the line. I also loved Aunt Kate’s farm and the mention of alpacas. I enjoyed the tenderness that Maverick and Percy brought out in the other characters and that animals had such a prominent role in Lauren’s life.

I do feel that the story was dragged out a bit more than it needed to be, with lots of conversations that didn’t have much bearing on the storyline and furthering the plot, but did feel like an accurate depiction of what would occur in real life. I did not see that ending coming, nor did I suspect who the killer was. Talk about something coming out of left field! However it didn’t feel so impossible for it to have been that person either.

Can’t wait to see what will occur in book 2!

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