This book was absolutely beautifully written.

Over 60 years ago, Edie's friend Lucy went missing when the girls were 15 years old. Edie has now been diagnosed with dementia and is determined to solve the mystery of Lucy's disappearance before it is too late.

The dual timelines were written so well. The story flips between 1951 with the events leading up to Lucy's disappearance and 2018 with Edie trying to piece together her memories before she loses them. The feel for each timeline was so spot on, and I fell in love with all of the main characters and had such strong feelings of hate for some others.

The book explores some deep concepts of friendship and family, both as a teenager and as an elderly woman. When the story finally wraps up, the whole thing is rather heartbreaking.

Overall, I highly recommend this one. I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book.

This book takes place in 2018 (current day) and 1951. We follow Edie through current day and when she was 15 while trying to piece together what happened to her friend Lucy in 1951. Current day Edie has developed dementia and is starts to get flashes of memories from 1951 involving Lucy. She becomes insistent that she has to find what happened to Lucy even though it's been 67 years since she disappeared. Clues guide Lucy to memories and to the truth and give us a sad yet satisfying ending. A mystery that sucks you in and keeps you there until the end.

Nearly 7 decades after they first became friends, octogenarian Edie Green is excited because she thinks that she may have spotted her old friend Lucy Theddle in her hometown of Ludthorpe.

The problem is, no one can actually be sure that Edie has in fact seen Lucy. Because for one thing, Edie gets confused nowadays. And for another, Lucy went mysteriously missing many decades ago.

When the two first became friends, it meant the world to Edie, stuck in a humdrum existence with an eccentric mother and very little excitement on the horizon. Lucy, lively and popular, changed all that. But all too soon the good times were over, and Lucy was gone.

Yet one thing that Edie knew at the time was that Lucy had a secret. One that she was determined to keep. So even after she disappeared, Edie kept it for her. But should she have done that?

This is a well written story that will linger in the memory. Some aspects are a little heartbreaking, but it is also very moving. Recommended for readers who like stories that make them think and feel deeply.

A good twist on your typical mystery. I really enjoyed the plot, though I was a little bored in the middle. However, it came together in the end and was resolved well. Subject matter made it more than a cozy but not quite a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley. This was not a thriller but it was a murder mystery written in a dual timeline (1951 and 2018). It is about a secret that has been kept for 67 years. There is a lot of focus on dementia which made it very realistic. The story was well written and very realistic. It was written with sensitivity and quite an emotional read. I did enjoy the book and gave it a 4 star rating. I do recommend this book to others.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐧
𝐁𝐲 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐲
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟏𝟎.𝟑.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝒞𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒮𝑜𝑜𝓃!

I love elderly protagonists, and eighty-two-year-old Edie Green won me over. The story is told in dual timelines - that we float effortlessly between. I found myself completely captivated by this story.

In 1951, Edie is a lonely schoolgirl who is bullied. Her eccentric mother conducts seances for the community. Surprisingly, Edie makes a friend in the Mayor’s daughter, Lucy. Lucy, a bit of a wild teen - suddenly disappears.

In 2018, Edie, now in her eighties, believes she sees her friend Lucy - appearing still young and vibrant. No one ever discovered what became of Lucy. Edie, who is in the early stages of dementia, is determined to find out what happened to her friend all those years ago. She believes it will prove to her family that she is still capable of remembering things. But Edie is not prepared for what the truth reveals.

Besides an engaging, somewhat heartbreaking story of friendship and coming-of-age in the 1950s, this story involves a mystery whose resolution I think will surprise you. Edie’s character is written beautifully and with sensitivity; you see her innocence as a child, and later you feel her waver between lucidity and unreliability.

I highly recommend this one for lovers of endearing character-driven fiction.

Thank you @bookmarked for this gifted ebook.

Thank you @bookmarked for the #gifted copy of this book!

What it’s about:

Set in 1951, there is a young girl named Edie who feels alone and bored in her current life. Her mother has a new boyfriend who she does not care for and she doesn’t have any friends. One day, she crosses paths with Lucy who is a glittery opposite of herself. Lucy comes from a wealthy family and things come more easily to her. When Lucy befriends Edie, Edie is shocked but cherishes their relationship. Edie stumbles across one of Lucy’s secrets that could ruin her life. Edie is very loyal however and just wants her friend to be ok! A life changing event happens and Edie and Lucy must take matters into their own hands. The Lucy disappears off the face of the earth and no one sees or hears from her ever again.

Sixty years later Edie is much older and struggling with forgetting things. She cannot tell what is real and what is her memory starting to go. She ends up having visions of Lucy and tries desperately to piece together what happened to her friend all those years ago. Will she be able to do it? Will anyone believe her?

Thoughts:
I thought this was a very well done mystery book. It was beautifully written and loved the alternating timelines. This may be kind of sad but one of my favorites parts was the way the author wrote Edie as she was older. Her decent into her forgetful memory seemed so realistic and I felt so frustrated for Edie…even though Edie didn’t remember why she should even be frustrated! 😂 Although it is a sad topic I think the author was very sensitive and realistic. Bravo for accomplishing that! The mystery was laid out in a way where you could see some of the plot points happening but I didn’t guess them all and the ending was satisfying! I would say if you’re a fan of historical mysteries this would be up your alley!

This was quite an interesting read! Told from then and now dual timelines, 84-year-old Edie, who suffers from dementia, believes she sees her friend Lucy from the past. Lucy disappeared in the 1950's and Edie is trying to make sense of the memory of that puzzling afternoon. With her confused and failing mind, she is determined to prove to her family that she is capable of piecing together the details of what happened to her friend 60 years ago. Poignant, heartfelt, and gut-wrenching at times. The character development is beautifully written, and for such a sensitive topic, Critchley did a wonderful job of portraying the emotions. A gorgeous debut. 5 undoubtable stars!

What a touching and tragic tale this novel is. Edie is a character you want to hug and reassure, both in the past and the present. The dual timelines are handled beautifully, especially as Edie's dementia worsens and the two begin bleeding into each other. Plenty of red herrings. I was unprepared for the answer to what happened to Lucy. The characters were my favorite part, with the setting descriptions being my second. I had no trouble visualizing the story in my mind as it played out on the pages. I will warn you, this isn't a happy book or a light read. Questions are answered, but One Puzzling Afternoon left me with a hollow heart for the rest of the day after I read it. I'm happy I did, though. Sometimes, it's good when a book makes you wallow in your emotions.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I love this book. It had me hooked from the first page.

This book is about dementia and how it is to grow old .
I found it so interesting and there was even some mystery twisted in there.
I would highly recommend this book to find out the details and enjoy.

What a heartbreaking book! Edie is 84 and suffering from dementia. She sees her friend one afternoon exactly as she looked 60 years ago before she disappeared. What happened to Lucy? This is a dual time line story, one following when Edie and Lucy were young and now with Edie with dementia. I loved Edie and my heart broke for her and her mental challenges. This book did a fantastic job showing how awful this disease is for the person and their family. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

What an absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking book.

The book is written in dual timeliness. In 2018, Edie is an woman in her 80s suffering from dementia. She is at the post office where next door young man advertising a new retro candy store is handing out candy samples. When she receives a roll of Parma Violets her rapidly diminishing mind is trigged by the memory of a friend who went missing over 50 years ago.

1951 Edie accidentally learns Lucy's secret. They become close friends, Lucy promising to never tell what she knows about Lucy.

Without giving anything away, I caln say this book was excellently executed. Flipping back and forth as multiple stories are told you follow the mystery of Lucy's disappearance and watch as current day Edie struggles to discover/remember what really happened to her friend before it's too late.

Reading Edie's perspective as an old woman is heartbreaking and honestly terrifying to read. How dementia takes its toll on not just the sufferer, but their entire family is just cruel.

Just as cruel is the fate of Lucy and events that lead up to her disappearance.

Friendship. Loyalty. Betrayal. Secrets. Regrets. This book runs a gauntlet of emotions. I can't simply not recommend it enough. So absolutely beautifully done.

Enormous thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This is a story that will stay with me for a very, very long time.

Emily Critchley wrapped up all my favourite genres into one propulsive, moving and intelligent read. One Puzzling Afternoon tells the story of Edie - in 2018 and in 1951 in the small English town of Ludthorpe. In 2018, Edie is dealing with the effects of dementia and is certain the key to lifting her brain fog is figuring out what happened to her friend Lucy when she went missing in 1951. In 1951, Edie is a 16 year old grammar school girl, dealing with a widowed mother whose side hustle are seances, an unpleasant stepfather, and the dramatic life her upper-crust friend Lucy is leading. Chritchley offers all the feels - nostalgia, suspense, empathy. The novel reminded me of a similar novel I adored - Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. Highly recommend. Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the privilege of an advanced read.

I found this book very difficult to get into and ultimately it did not grab me which is not great for a mystery novel. I found the narrative style just did not suit me but that was not due to any inherent flaw in the work but just my general preferences.

I loved this book! I will definitely recommend it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Can you go wrong with a murder mystery? Well, I guess you can but this book didn’t. Super twisty, exciting and I loved the dual timelines.

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley
Edie has lived with the mystery of her best friend’s disappearance for nearly all of her life. Now at the age of 84 she finds herself in a bit of a muddle. She can’t quite remember nor can she quite forget. Memories and the occasional viewing of her long lost friend Lucy have her disquieted. Does she know what really happened ? Can she get to those cloudy memories before it’s too late?

I loved this book! For me it would have been a 5* read: memorable characters, intriguing storyline, interesting dialogue & setting. And then it happened, the epilogue. In my opinion nearly wrecked the entire reading experience. I finished the book a week ago and I’m still angry.

Thanks Sourcebooks Landmark, NetGalley and the author for an opportunity to read this book.

Poignant and bittersweet, this is a beautifully told story about Edie, a woman in her 80s who is living with dementia and who starts having visions of her friend, Lucy, who went missing over more than 60 years ago and was never found. With the help of her granddaughter, Edie is determined to find out what happened to Lucy.

Told in two timeframes (2018 and early 1950s), we see the story through Edie’s eyes as an old woman who is struggling to piece together what happened to her friend all those years ago and as an awkward, lonely teenager when she and Lucy met and became friends in the time leading up to her disappearance.

Edie is a wonderful, likeable character and the reader is easily pulled into her life. The descriptions of Edie’s state of mind, the moments of confusion and lucidity as the dementia progresses are well done and there is a solid resolution to the mystery of what happened to Lucy.

This will be one of my favourite reads this year. Beautifully done story and a debut to boot! I’ll be looking forward to reading more from this author!

My thanks to Sourcebook Landmark and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

The story of Edie Green and her struggle to figure out what happened to her friend Lucy years ago, was both compelling and satisfying. In 1951 Edie and her friend Lucy planned to run away together, but when Lucy disappeared, Edie ended up staying in the same town the rest of her life. Now at 81, she is fighting with dementia and hoping to put together the pieces of what really happened to Lucy before it is too late. I liked this story a lot. It is told in a dual time line of 1951 and present day 2018. Both are equally interesting and I was invested in both of the story lines. I could feel Edie's emotion as she becomes consumed with working out what happened to Lucy. In the past, we learn about Edie's childhood and eventually the truth. The story is very satisfying in the way it pulls together.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

This story is absolutely gorgeous as it unfolds. Feeling the startling and sometimes terrifying effects of early dementia, Edie is given flashes of memories about her childhood best friend. Lucy Theddle disappeared in 1951 and was never heard from again or found. As Edie feels herself slipping away more frequently, her quest to remember and find out what happened to Lucy grows ever stronger.
The story is told in flashbacks between 1951, when Edie was a teenager, and 2018 when she is an elderly woman often finding herself "in a muddle." I've read books whose character had dementia, but this is the first one I've read that really gives the reader a taste of what it's like - the shame of losing common knowledge, the terror of realizing, all of a sudden, that you have no idea where you are.
Critchley does a fantastic job weaving the story of 1951 Edie with 2018 Edie. The resolution of the Lucy mystery was completely unexpected and I was glued to the page.