Great read. Mystery keeps you turning pages. I would recommend this book to other readers. This is a new author for me and I would read more of her books.

A great read that will keep you wanting more! This book follows main character, Kate, as she navigates life with PTSD after a job assignment in Afghanistan led to a traumatic time for her. She wanted to start over in a new town, but it turns out her life did not get any easier there. It is thrilling and suspenseful. Kept me guessing the whole time!

Absolutely fantastic read! Would definitely recommend to my audience. Kim Herdman Shapiro is on to be read list from now on.

An excellent mystery with some twists and turns. It is a small island and everyone knows everyone.
Many thanks to Level Best and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

"TV producer Kate Zoë Thomas, fleeing an abduction in Afghanistan and heartbreak in Boston, accepts the first job that gives her a fresh start: station manager at a tiny community channel on Wynter Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. But, try as she may, Kate cannot outrun her bad luck. On a moonlit walk to a local beach, Kate spots a body bobbing in the surf. In shock, she recognizes the lifeless face and realizes there is only one person on the island with a motive for his murder. Herself. Will she manage to solve the mystery?"
Great story, fast paced, kept attention the whole time, first time author read, will read more.
Thanks to level best books, netgalley, and the author in return of an honest review.
Published March 14, 2023

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I couldn't get into this book. I tried multiple times but there was just too much going on. I found myself getting frustrated and finally gave up.

I liked this book but I just couldn't get into the story. I didn't like the writing style but overall the story was good.

A great read! Yes, it is complicated, but that’s what makes it so good. It has puzzle I love to try and figure out. Kate Thomas, a tv journalist, decides to totally reboot her life after an abduction in Afghanistan. This means that she leaves her globetrotting world behind and heads for a new job running a small tv station on a small Canadian island. The one thing she isn’t expecting is to find the dead body of her ex waiting for her there. Lots of thrills, but also a lot of fun and humorous details when Shapiro focuses on the quirky residents of this tiny island. Who would have thought Fish Bingo could be a thing? All in all, recommended for mystery lovers, especially if you are looking for a book to keep you on your toes until the final chapter. Five stars!

Unfortunately this isn’t the best book in my opinion. It was slow paced, FAR to many characters to keep up with anything. I DID appreciate the fact she included a map in the book but a list of people would have been very helpful. Something everyone wants to know I won’t mind spoiling the dog in this book DOES live! so you’re safe with that one. Another good mark. But I personally couldn’t keep up with the everyone they had in this book there was no shot of me being able to figure out who did it since I couldn’t keep up with who was who or what they did. When the explained who did it I really didn’t see many clues that would have stood out from any of the other weird comments in the book. A few typos I think grammar people wouldn’t like but that’s wasn’t a huge note for me just something the author might wanna look for before final publishing. I think the idea and the setting were really good and interesting I just think the execution of the characters and storyline didn’t play out well.

How much trauma can we load this poor woman up with... let's give her PTSD from being abducted and nearly killed in a combat zone, then a cheating husband... but no real exploration of what these experiences might do to one's psyche. Very little character building (I never had a sense of who's who on the island), unrealistic dialogues, simplistic and formulaic plot... overall a miss for me.

This was a well written and instantly captivating book! What do you do when your life absolutely falls apart, you’ve been abducted and survived. Watched as people did not. Your relationship with your boyfriend turns out to be full of secrets. You move to an island far away that’s what Kate thought. Trouble and death seems to have followed her. On a tiny island where everyone knows everyone and your new, terrible things are happening. Of course the blame falls on you. So you do what you do, investigate. This was such a good read. Lots of twists and I was wrong with every guess! Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC!

Thank you to Kim Herdman Shapiro and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC of The Raven’s Cry.

After a life-threatening and traumatic event causes Kate to leave her job as a reporter in Afghanistan, she finds herself as the head of the brand new Wynter Island news station. The island seems like the perfect place for her to recover and build a new life. It is quiet, quaint, and peaceful. At least until she finds the dead body of her ex-boyfriend floating in the water by her cottage. Kate is the prime suspect. Will she be able to discover who is responsible, or will she take the fall for Wynter Island’s murderer?

I would rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. The story was definitely interesting, but I felt that the plot got a little lost as the author attempted to weave in every island resident as a potential suspect. Also, I was pretty off-put by Kate’s advances on Michael, even though he is married with a son and she has met his wife multiple times. I think I would have been okay with it if Kate had not acted on her feelings, but for her to actively pursue a married man after having been cheated on herself felt wrong. I appreciated Kate’s drive and initiative in trying to solve the mystery of the murder, but it was also taken a bit too far at times. She seemed to think she was entitled to know about the personal lives of everyone around her, regardless of whether it was relevant to her investigation. Other than that, I thought it was a very interesting mystery with multiple well-written plot twists.

If you are a small-town mystery lover, then this is the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. It didn't disappoint! Must read!!

In the novel, The Raven's Cry, Kate Zoe Thomas leaves her job at WGBH and moves from Boston as a station manager to Wynter Island, British Columbia where she stays at Michael and Anna's rental cottage by Steeltun Bay. Soon she gets acquainted with the long-time residents of Wynter Island - Gwen and Vera Schmidt. Kate had broken up with her boyfriend, Daniel Apolinar before coming to the Island. She had met Daniel in Afghanistan while working as a producer for PBS Dispatches and he was a reporter based in Kabul. Then, Kate drives from her home legion heading down, and to her horror and grief she finds at the same time recognizes Daniel's deceased body floating in the ocean,

Tension and intrigue build up for the reader as it is difficult to determine if David's death is a coincidence? Why did this healthy man fly two thousand miles to an isolated Island off the Columbia Coast and winds up dead? And also the place where Kate moved to. Kate turns out to be the main suspect as she found him dead. As the coroner makes sure it wasn't suicide or an accident. For the police investigating officer, Kate becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation. What was Daniel doing on Wynter Island?

I think this novel has twists at the end when Kate becomes free from accusations of being a suspect. There appear to be too many suspects among the residents of Wynter Island. Nate and Gwen become one of the suspects. Kate sets out to investigate Daniel's murderer. Who killed Daniel? All Kate could feel is exhaustion and grieving Daniel's loss. It is a nail-biting situation till the end. Why would someone on Wynter Island have a reason to murder Daniel. As lots of questions emerge the novel becomes very suspenseful and not anymore cozy.

Thank you Netgalley and Level Best Books Publishers for an advance copy for my honest review.

Pls find Book Reviews at my Blog: Novel Nerd Blog - https://smithareading.blogspot.com

The author asked me to review her debut mystery novel and it is a page-turner. It’s a great start to the Wynter Island Mystery series and I can’t wait to see what more Shapiro has in store for the quirky characters on the beautiful island in British Columbia.

Told from Kate Zoë Thomas’ point of view the story follows her flight from Boston to Wynter Island after catching her boyfriend cheating. She barely arrives on the island to begin her new job as the television station manager when she discovers the body of her ex-boyfriend and becomes the number one suspect for his murder. The island is small and the citizens seem closely connected so it was going to take an outsider and journalist like her to solve this case.

Kate is a confident and independent woman who is living with PTSD from her kidnapping in war-torn Afghanistan and reeling from the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Daniel. She is the chief suspect in Daniel’s death, but she has lots of supporters from her new friends and neighbors on the island…well, she thought she did. It seems like the killer has other plans for her, but not if she can find the killer first.

This is definitely a character-driven mystery with devoted animal lovers, over-protective parents, instant friends with buried secrets, and loyal canines.

This thriller pulls you in with its beautiful setting, its perplexing dynamic between the islanders, and its extraordinary plot twists. If you love some laughs, lots of lies, and many leads, give this exciting thriller a try!

THE RAVEN’S CRY, a Wynter Island Mystery, by Kim Herdman Shapiro, is an engaging story that’s a cross between a suspense novel and a cozy mystery. Set on a small island off the coast of British Columbia, the scenery is breathtaking, and the setting is unique. The author’s strong descriptive voice brings the area to life. The protagonist, Kate Zoë Thomas, is a sympathetic character after enduring a horrific ordeal during her assignment in Afghanistan. Then, feeling betrayed by those close to her stateside, she lands a job on Wynter Island, opening a new community TV channel. Given the number of people in the book, it was a bit difficult keeping them and their backstories straight at times. However, I believe this is the start of a series and, with the backstory already told, the next book in the series should flow more smoothly.

The mystery starts off quickly when Kate finds the murdered body of her ex. Right away, it becomes apparent she is the only suspect because no one else on the island knew him. With the number of characters who live on the island, there were plenty of suspects who had secrets to hide. Kate has to delve deep into their past, to find out who else knew the victim and has a motive to kill him. With some twists and turns, Ms. Shapiro crafts a puzzling mystery that kept me guessing. This is a great start to the series and I look forward to reading the next book!

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An eclectic, interesting cast of characters and a beautiful west coast island setting but for me it fell a bit short. Based on the title I think I was hoping it would dive deeper into native folklore and mythology, ended up wondering what the title had to do with the story. All in all not a bad murder mystery and the setting and cast of characters can easily be taken further into a series and could make for a good tv series for sure. Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

Kate Zoe Thomas has had her share of bad experiences, but when she finds the body of her ex=boyfriend floating in the water surrounding Wynter Island, things go from bad to worse. It seems no one else knows Daniel on the island, making Kate the logical suspect. Although they parted on bad terms, Kate knows she did not kill Daniel, so someone from the island must know him and isn't saying. An absorbing mystery which i believe might be the start of a new series.

Suspenseful and Surprising
When Kate takes a job far below her abilities just to get a fresh start with less stress and danger, the little Canadian community of Wynter Island does not provide what she was looking for. After finding the body of her ex-finance dead in the water, she becomes the top suspect. With investigative journalist experience, she sets out to find the killer before she gets convicted of a crime she didn't commit. Smart, well-written, and suspenseful, it has many surprises to unveil. Loved it.

I was captivated by this book from start to finish. The author's unique perspective and writing style kept me engaged throughout the story, leaving me eager to read more of their work in the future. The characters were intriguing, each with their own complexities, and the mystery was skillfully crafted, keeping me guessing until the very end. I found myself devouring the pages, as the fast-paced plot propelled me forward. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone in search of an excellent read.