Love her books — this is book 4 of the continuing story of Sheriff Lily Ross, her family, and life — hoping for another!! These are painful stories of hard lives but it’s a family I want to keep knowing more about —

4 STARS
2022; Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Audio

We are back in Kinship, and things are busy with drama. We move through the story with Lily and Beulah's point of view. The book opens with Chalmer Fitzpatrick, former war vet and Lily's brother, Roger's friend, opening a new park in Kinship. The opening day sets off incidents that lead to a young woman being found murdered, and a baby left without a home. Beulah's been hiding a secret from Lily and the family, Roger had a daughter in France. Esme is now nine years old, and about to lose her maternal grandmother, the only family she has known. Beulah's been corresponding with Esme's grandmother, Charlotte and has decided to take on Esme. When she goes to pick her up from the train the young girl and her hired escort are no where to be found. Lily finds herself pulled between the the mysteries and having her job as Sheriff tested all throughout.

There is a lot happening in this one, and with the alternating POV, I was kept on my toes. It's not difficult to keep straight though, and a bit filled with anxious tension. One thing I love about the kinship novels is the cast of characters. Each book we see how they grow and are trying to get through hard times. It is interesting to see a woman sheriff during this time, and at times it reminds me of the Kopp Sisters, with less humour. Any of the novels in the series could probably read on their own, but if you are full immersive reader you will want to start at the beginning and see the growth and arcs move.

***I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook/ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

Ever since the publication of her first novel, I have looked forward to each yearly entry in this historical mystery series.

The books that Ms. Montgomery writes follow a number of characters, many of whom are women of principle living in a town where they are continually challenged. Lily became Sheriff after the death of her husband. She has subsequently faced many difficult situations. Lily’s friend Marvena has a strong presence on the page as well as does Hildy. These are characters for whom readers will care. Each novel seems to bind them more closely together. In this entry, there is a new person in Esme. Readers will learn how she is connected to Lily and will hope that she is able to survive her own challenges.

At the same time, there is a local situation calling for Lily’s skills in investigation. An amusement park opening that should be fun leads to complex doings that span generations.

I both read and listened to this one. The narrator does a good job of telling this story. She speaks so clearly that readers are easily able to follow and become involved with the characters and plot. I had read the other books so it was a treat to listen and hear the voices of characters who had previously existed in my mind.

The books in this series are best read in order. They can be both bleak and life affirming. These are small town stories that are anything but cozies. I recommend them all.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan audio. All opinions are my own.

A park is developed in honor of Lily's late brother, Roger, who died in the war, while the family comes to terms with a secret her brother left behind. There seems to be some animosity among the soldiers Roger served with, and the sheriff, being Lily, has the task of getting to the bottom of the issue. However, when the body of a woman is found in a man made pond, Lily finds there is a more complex situation at hand.

I especially liked how Montgomery molded the characters of the soldiers Lily's brother served with in the war. Each came back different, which is so much like real soldiers. Montgomery handled each with the utmost of care, but still showed some of the mental repercussions inflicted by the traumas of war.

This is the fourth installment of the Kinship series, and probably my favorite, as it is less about politics and more about home life. All of the characters are well developed over the series, creating the feel of a small town community of people with their own strengths and flaws. Each having something valuable to contribute, Lily's group of friends provide her with support and encouragement, something much needed for the first female sheriff of Ohio, in the days where it was thought women should not hold such a title.

Echoes, the fourth book in the Kinship series, is set in 1920s Ohio, and again features Sheriff Lily Ross. The story begins as the town prepares for the July 4th celebration which is to be special this year. Chalmer Fitzpatrick has created an amusement park and is planning to dedicate it to veterans at the celebration. But before the park opens, a girl drowns in the lake at the park and Lily is called to investigate the incident.

She discovers that there is a family dispute over many issues one of which is the park land. This leads to the conclusion that the death might not have been a suicide. At the same time, Lily learns that her brother fathered a child while he was stationed in France as a soldier during World War I. The child is nine-year-old Esme, and she has been sent along with a chaperone to come to live with Lily’s family. However, somewhere on the journey she disappears and never arrives. Add to that, a baby with no identification mysteriously appears on the Fitzpatrick’s doorstep.

Lily is distraught that her brother, Roger, had fathered a child overseas especially since he was to marry her best friend, Hildy, when he returned from the war. Lily attempts to unravel her emotions about Esme, her niece, while she looks into the drowning, into the identity of the baby, and also into Esme’s disappearance. These three story lines converge and bring many reminder of the past into the lives of the book’s characters.

Lily and her mother, Beulah, narrate this book. Strong female characters have been a part of the series and this book is no exception. Family and family ties are extremely important to this book just as they have been in the previous three books. Unique to this novel is the recognition of the impact of PTSD on the soldiers who have survived war. Romance, again, finds a place in the book as Lily and her mother Beulah connect with their male suitors. The reader is also reminded of the hardships faced by those who live in a coal mining community on the 1920s.

The book could be a stand alone, but the characters continue to develop and grow with each additional book in the Kinship series. Therefore, the reader will gain more understanding of the time period and of the characters by reading the books in order. This fourth book in the series also serves to remind us that incidents either good or bad can have an echo effect on the lives of others. This book, Echoes, combines history and mystery into an absorbing story that is both believable and appealing.

Kinship #4. This series just keeps getting better and better. 1928, a local lumber mill owner opens up an amusement park to honor the veterans of the War. Lily is called out to his house on a sighting of a woman floating in the pond, but no one is there. A few days later there is, and a baby has been left on the doorsteps. Lily must dig out secrets despite family ruptures, while at the same time there are secrets at home. She is unaware her brother had a daughter, Esme, in France during the war, but the girl's mother is dead and the grandmother dying, so she is coming to Kinship. Except Esme is not on the train, Esme has been kidnapped.
As with all the Kinship books, there are stories within stories. Not only is the plotting complex, so too are the people. Believable and complicated and damaged, they all keep trying and some make it and some don't. Absolutely wonderful writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC. Book 4 of the series is just as good as book 1. Sheriff Lily Ross is trying to solve a murder of woman found floating in a pond. All fingers point to Hiram, a man suffering from PTSD, fighting the same war that killed Lily's brother Roger. Is Hiram guilty or did someone set him up? I loved the way she wrote this book because there are so many moving parts and so many questions! You don't have to read book 1 to read book 4. She is good about summarizing. #TheEchoes #JessMontgomery #Apr2022 #MinotaurBooks

Inspired by Ohio's first female sheriff in 1925, each Kinship Mystery Series written by the talented storyteller—Jess Montgomery includes co-narrators with Sheriff Lily Ross, the protagonist. Smartly written each co-narrator may have a different perspective on Lily and her case.

THE ECHOES is a powerful story, a mix of historical mystery, rural and Gothic. Fans and newcomers will enjoy the tenacious Sheriff Lily Ross. The fourth in the Kinship mystery series.

In the Echoes, her mom is one of the co-narrators, Beulah McArthur—and she has plenty of SECRETS. She has not always been comfortable with her daughter Lily having such a dangerous job. (can you imagine back in this period).

The plot revolves around Roger, Lily's brother and Beulah's son Roger and his time in the Great War, deceased. Both Lily and Beulah work together to resolve the numerous issues in The Echoes, which also helps connect them.

The other co-narrator is Esmé, the secret daughter Roger fathered in France, and now her mother's family can no longer care for her due to health reasons, she is sent to them. However, things do not go as planned.

The novel starts on July 4, 1928, at the opening of an amusement park named after Lily's brother, who died during the war. Chalmer Fitzpatrick is the owner. However, a dark shadow falls on the town with more than one tragedy. Pearl Riley is found murdered in the park's pond.

Chalmer's wife, Sophia, finds a month-old infant by their side door. Was the baby an affair with Chalmer and Pearl? However, Sophia has secrets of her own, among many others.

Lily does not know about her brother Roger's daughter that her mom had kept a secret. Beulah now has arranged to have Esmé come from France to America, and she is only 9 yrs old, with a chaperone. However, along the way, Esmé goes missing. Was she kidnapped? If so, the motive?

Many secrets keep the drama and suspense high from the baby, the affairs, and then more murders. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and Lily and her family have their work cut out for them. How are all the components connected?

Everyone involved in the novel is trying to protect their family, but how far will they go?

A story of family, love, loss, and traumas— PTSD from the war to those who have experienced traumatic events. How do we deal with traumas as it echoes through families and personal lives? A fitting title. Asks several questions: what war does do to soldiers' minds and how does trauma trickle through generations of families, communities, and countries.

You will enjoy this Kinship series if you love strong women and historical fiction. I really enjoyed this author's writing. While this was the first book in the series I have had the opportunity to read, I would recommend reading the prior ones, even though it can be read as a standalone. I look forward to reading THE WIDOWS, THE HOLLOWS, and THE STILLS.

I read the e-book and listened to the audiobook narrated by the fabulous Susan Bennett for an entertaining listening experience. Highly recommend the audiobook.

Thank you to #StMartinsPress, #MacmillianAudio, and #NetGalley for an ARC to read, enjoy, and review.

@JudithDCollins |#JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: March 29, 2022

It is now 1928 and Sheriff Lily Ross has a lot on her plate. An amusement park is being built in the small town of Kinship, she deals with a possible murder, the fact that her now-deceased brother fathered a child while serving in the war in France, and is navigating her relationship with Benjamen.

For my thoughts on this intriguing fourth book in the Kinship series, please see my YouTube video review -
https://youtu.be/BFVF9T8_b3w

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was part of a series. When I finished The Echoes I was happy that it had worked well as a stand alone and I wanted to get my hands on the previous three books. I usually don't enjoy multiple points of view but this story worked. I like historical mysteries and this time period really came alive for me. Set in July 1928 in a small town in Ohio, Lily Ross is a widow and the local sherif. She has a lot to deal with when a young woman is found floating in a pond, generations worth of strife between two families mars the opening of a new amusement park and her own family has to confront a major secret about her late brother and the young daughter , Esme, fathered when he was fighting in France. After his death she was raised by her mothers family but now she has been sent to Ohio. She doesn't arrive. Many questions, many secrets - all threads of the two cases intertwine and Lily has to ask herself what makes family.
The mystery was well crafted and the setting came alive. Lily was such a strong character I couldn't wait to read the previous books and to learn more about the other women in her life. My thanks to the publisher, Minotaur and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Jess Montgomery's Kinship historical mystery series is one that all lovers of the genre should read. These books-- and The Echoes is no exception-- are filled with evocative storytelling, intricate plotting, and compelling characters. Small, telling details put readers right into the time period. Who would have believed that there'd be such a thing as a parking lot for automobiles? And that "cardboard fan with a flat wooden handle from the funeral home" made me look for the one that's been in our family since 1909. (Yes, I did find it.) Then there are also aggravating details such as the fact that married women weren't allowed to be schoolteachers, and the derogatory way some folks there in Kinship call Lily Ross "She-riff."

But it's the people, not the historical details, that are the flesh and bone and blood of The Echoes. Esmé, a little girl kidnapped in a strange land. Lily's mother, Beulah, who keeps too many secrets. Other people "so proud of their hate" that they carry it "like a torch." (Have you ever been able to understand people like that? Neither have I.) And Lily Ross herself. Strong. Indomitable. So sure of herself and her convictions that she tends to scare the people who know her best.

Montgomery shows us-- and shows us in lyrical, heart-bruising style-- that hurt only needs to find people once for it to echo through the rest of their lives. This is a marvelous series and one that should not be missed.

This is the kind of book you read with a lump in your throat. Jess Montgomery’s portrayal of 1920’s Ohio is so deeply felt, so evocative, so redolent of history and memory and shared experience, that to read one of these books is to be completely immersed, while at the same time feeling all of the human experience. Montgomery covers it all – birth, death and everything in between. This novel seemed to me to be the most focused of her books plot wise, and that seemed to give this story an extra intensity.

The book opens with a young girl named Esme, as she heads to America and a new life. Montgomery switches narrators throughout, so the book returns to Lily, the sheriff in tiny Kinship, Ohio, who is listening to an old woman explain to her that she’s seen a dead body floating in the pond near her house. While Lily covers the pond in a rowboat there’s no trace of a body and she’s impatient with the woman, whose name is Maybelle and who may or may not have “the sight”.

The book then shifts to Lily’s mother, Beulah, who has been keeping a very big secret: Esme is the illegitimate daughter of her son Roger, conceived when he was fighting in France. Because Esme’s French grandmother is dying, she’s sending Esme to the only family she has left. Unfortunately, Beulah has told no one in her family that they should be looking forward to having a niece or cousin joining them.

Beulah has relied on Maybelle’s son, Chalmer, to facilitate the move, and it’s Chalmer’s family that provides much of the drama in the story. He and his wife Sophie don’t get along; Sophie refuses to let her mother-in-law live in the house; and there are some impoverished and bitter cousins, on the wrong side of a longstanding family feud, working for Chalmer.

There’s a big opening of a new “amusement” park scheduled, named in honor of WWI veterans, and Lily and her entire family attend the opening ceremony. The park has been mainly financed and built by Chalmer, and the ceremonies are interrupted by one of his cousins and later in the evening, an even worse tragedy: the body of a woman is discovered floating in the pond, just as Maybelle imagined.

And then there’s Esme. As she starts on the last leg of her long journey her chaperone leaves her for a moment and she’s kidnapped. So while Lily is investigating the drowned woman’s death, she’s also frantic to discover what happened to her niece, as her mother has finally revealed what’s going on.

The true narrative and emotional backbone of the story is Roger himself. He was respected and beloved in town, and many of the men in the story, including Lily’s beau, Benjamin, are veterans who served with Roger. Then there’s Esme, and the connection she brings, and there’s Lily’s friend Hildy, who was engaged to Roger before he left for the war. All of the threads of memory and loss belonging to these various characters wind through the story. The connections to Roger are strong or slight, but he’s influenced those he’s left behind in more ways than one. The main connection of course is his mother Beulah, and the ways his loss has affected her life.

Lily’s feelings are more unresolved than her mother’s, in my opinion, and she’s struggling with them throughout the book. Montgomery is a beautiful writer and one who creates in depth portraits of those she’s writing about. The characters of Lily and of Beulah, in this novel, are the central tentpoles but as with Roger’s absence, there are so many tributaries flowing from the connections that Lily and her mother have made in their lives. It’s these connections that move everyone forward. Montgomery creates and writes about community in all its pain, beauty, and necessity. While there are several deaths in the book the message of community is the one I took with me. I can’t recommend this series, and this particular book, more highly.

It's 1928 and there's more to the people of the town of Kinship than meets the eyes, as Sheriff Lily Ross discovers. Her 9 year old niece Esme, born after her brother Roger was killed in France during WWI, disappears on her way to Kinship. An elderly woman keeps claiming she sees a girl in a blue dress floating in a pond. There's a new amusement park about to open. And Lily, a widow, is trying to figure out her future with Benjamin. Lily's mother Beulah has been keeping the secret of Esme and other secrets as well. This is told largely from Lily and Beulah's perspectives with periodic offerings from Esme. As with the earlier books in the series (and this is more readable as a standalone than some of the earlier ones), there's a little too much focus on how people are related to one another and so on- you like me might wonder why some of it is relevant (and as far as I can tell, it often isn't). The parts that are, such as the history of the land where the park is built, got a little lost for me. Fans Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Fans who have followed the series closely will no doubt be pleased to see favorite characters again in this interesting novel about the lingering effects of WWI, PTSD, and how a woman law enforcement officer navigates her community.

So much love for the fourth book in The Kinship Series.
This book is told from three character point of views - Esme, Beulah, and Sheriff Lily.
The timeframe is over the July 4th weekend in 1928.
Sheriff Lily's family life is turned upside-down when they learn that her brother, Roger, who died in the war fathered a child while in France. That child, Esme, is on her way to join them in the US.

Themes include female empowerment, female friendship, Appalachian family life and the choices available to those living in Kinship, all of it impacted by those suffering from PTSD. Oh, and there is a mystery!

Highly recommend.

Discussed on Episode 150 of the Book Cougars.
Author Spotlight with Jess Montgomery will appear on an upcoming episode.

Another visit to Kinship and to Sheriff Lily Ross and her family. Lily's mother takes on a bigger role in this one--because she has been keeping a secret for three years and now there is no way to avoid the consequences.

In the meantime, there is preparation for the new amusement park to be opened on July 4th, and Chalmer Fitzpatrick's 97-year-old woman has called Lily (again) because there is a drowned woman in a pond which is slated to be part of a new amusement park. Once again, Lily finds no drowned woman, and the question is whether the old woman's vision is dementia or the "the sight."

It's 1928, but there are connections to the Great War that claimed Lily's brother and the discovery of a truly unexpected legacy. There are so many secrets in this one! As usual, Jess Montgomery uses some actual history in her plot.

Montgomery's characters and setting feel so genuine that the opportunity to visit Kinship again is always appreciated...but now another year to wait for the next book.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press.
Historical Mystery. March 29, 2022. Print length: 288 pages.

It’s Independence Day in 1928 and folks are all agog at the impending opening of a new amusement park in a nearby town. when sheriff Lily Ross gets wind of the drowning of a young woman on park property. And that land has been the subject of a fierce dispute between members of the family who all claim to have a stake in it. To make her life even more complicated, Lily learns her brother fathered a child in France during the war before he died and now Esme, the mother of that child is coming to the United States with the baby. But what connection, if any, does Esme have to do with the women found drowned, and what of the infant left on the porch of the amusement park owner? An entertaining read with a realistic and historically accurate setting