Middletide by Sarah Crouch

 

Elijah Leith couldn't wait to get out of his small town.  He wants to be an author and going off to college is his first step.  He's leaving behind his father and his high school girlfriend, Nikita.  After his first novel, Middletide, is a failure in the market, he returns home.  His father is dead having drunk himself into oblivion.  Nikita married another Native American and although she is now a widow, she isn't interested in rekindling things with Elijah.

At loose ends, Elijah has a short relationship with the town doctor, Erin Landrey, but his heart belongs to Nikita and he soon breaks things off with Erin.  Months later, Erin is found murdered on Elijah's land, using the exact method he used in his novel.  Elijah's blood is found under her fingernails and on her clothes.  Despite his protests that he hadn't seen her in months, he is soon arrested and charged with murder.  Who could have hated him enough to set him up?

This is a debut novel for Sarah Crouch.  She is known as a professional marathoner but should have a career writing if she desires one.  There are plenty of twists and turns and events that will surprise the reader.  If there is a weakness, it is the legal aspects as Elijah is represented by Nikita's father who studied law but never practiced it and some of the trial aspects don't ring true.  But the relationships are done to perfection and the ending is a surprise.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.