Middletide is the debut novel that had so much inside the 288 pages- murder mystery, long-lost loves, courtroom drama, indigenous people, small town vibe.
The main character, Elijah Leith, is a writer. His first novel was called Middletide, which tells the story of a homicide. Unfortunately, his writing career doesn’t take off and he is forced to return to his home town after being away for many years. He would like to reconnect with his high school sweetheart, Nakita. He lives in his father's rundown cabin, living off the land. He has little money and resources. He reconnects with his father's best friend, Chitto and begins to work in his garage, fixing up cars.
Shortly after Elijah’s return, a young doctor is found hanged in the nearby woods close to Elijah’s cabin. All signs point to his involvement. As he tries to declare his innocence, he tries to find the killer of the doctor.

This is a slow burn murder mystery. It is a very character driven novel with plenty of twists and turns. The authors descriptions of the landscapes make you want to explore the Pacific Northwest with all of its beauty. The story was written in multiple time lines, which can be confusing at times.
Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Published on June 11, 2024.

I wasnt a huge fan of this book, but maybe others will like it. I wasnt a fan of the plot or the characters . The writing style was okay .

I enjoyed this book. It was slow to start but I liked where it went. I did really like the twist and how the court scenes played out. I can see why people make not like as it was a little unbelievable but I read books for fun and not everything I read needs to be believable.

One thing I didn't love was that she made up an Indigenous group for this story where we really didn't need this as part of the story which is why I took a star off my rating.

All in all I enjoyed this.

When Elijah left Point Orchard to follow his dream of becoming an author, he left his first love, Nakita, behind with a promise. A promise he did not keep. Years later feeling like a failure, Elijah returns to Point Orchard. He’s got a lot to work through, his father has died and he’s living off the land. When he sees Nakita again, he wants nothing more than to reconnect, but she’s going through her own trauma and a new relationship is not in the cards. When a beautiful young doctor, Erin, asks Elijah out, he quickly agrees, but his heart isn’t in it. Erin, too, has her fair share of heartbreaks, but when she turns up dead, Elijah is the one and only suspect. It looks fairly cut and dried, but Elijah continually professes his innocence. Nakita and her father are leaving no stone unturned looking for the one piece of evidence that will save him, but is it out there? This was a rock solid debut by Crouch. The courtroom drama was mindful of the old Perry Mason cases, with fleshed out believable characters. Cleverly and cleanly written (proving language adds nothing to a well written story), the pages turned quickly from the first until the very last. Well done! Looking forward to much more from this talented new voice! Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Elijah and Nakita are teenage sweethearts. Elijah will soon be leaving for college. He hopes in his future to write a best-selling novel. They make a promise to meet in four years at their favorite spot. Elijah never appears. Fifteen years later Elijah returns to Point Orchards. In the interim, Nakita marries. Soon after Elijah returns, the town doctor’s body is found on his property. What first appears as a suicide is soon declared a murder. All the evidence points to Elijah, who is arrested for murder. What follows is the trial and the impact it has on the lives of Nakita and Elijah. A gentle page turner. Middletide by Sarah Crouch is a good murder mystery.

I liked this book much better after I finished it. If that makes any sense...I think the PNW setting she created was fantastic, and it felt very real. There were parts of it I was frustrated by and couldn't see why she wrote it that way until I finished the book-then I understood it. It's quite a twisty story, but it took a long time to get started. 3.75 stars.

The cover for Middletide is just gorgeous and drew me into wanting to immerse myself in the Pacific Northwest, The premise of the story is interesting... the town doctor is found dead, hanging from a tree at a lake accessible by boat only at high tide. Was it suicide or murder to look like suicide? A whodunnit and locked-nature sort of mystery was right up my alley.

But, and it is a big BUT, the execution of the story did not live up to its gorgeous cover. As they say, the Devil is in the details, and there were so many details that were just plain inaccurate. MDs do not write dissertations, they do not take a town doctor job right out of med school (there's something called residency training that is required for board certification and insurance contracting and all those fun/boring medical necessities), and they haven't drawn labs for many decades, Routine medical labs are not entered into DNA databases, and DNA testing requires a consent process (unless of course you are already involved within the legal system). A small-town auto repair shop is not going to touch the transmission of a European car. Fix a flat tire, sure, but foreign cars are a whole different ballgame. The courtroom scenes were a hot mess. The whole "trigger" for the main event just wasn't believable. Unfortunately, these and many other inconsistencies took away the enjoyment of the story and led to plot holes. I also felt that including a made-up Native American tribe was unnecessary. Native American culture or beliefs didn't play any role in the story. The MC's love interest could easily have been anyone and certainly could have been from a local tribal nation. The characters did not feel real people to be, almost like televisions caricatures of what someone thinks a person would be like without really knowing anything about them.

Overall, the actual idea for the story was great and writing capable. The storytelling details and the character development needed more work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The premise is what first drew me to "Middletide" — a small-town mystery revolving around the death of the beloved local doctor. Plus, beautiful cover. The insular atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest town is what shines here. The rest of the novel didn't work for me.
Every character felt flat with their development primarily based on the author "telling" me, instead of showing. It almost felt like two conflicting and separate plot lines that suddenly converged about 60% through the story — as though the author decided to shove two different stories into one regardless of the consequences. Because of this, certain components of the story never become relevant to the plot and others feel incredibly farfetched and ridiculous. The motive behind Erin's death made no logical sense to me.
Also, very confused as to why the author decided to create a fictional Native American tribe instead of doing their research and incorporating one that already exists? The author's note doesn't justify the decision either given each tribal nation cited is vastly different with their own unique cultures and values. Attempting to combine them all in this vague surface-level amalgamation is ignorant and, frankly, disrespectful.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book starts with a bang: the body of the town doctor is found dead on Elijah Leith’s property and he’s the obvious suspect. The timeline jumps around as the reader gains understanding of what led to the crime and the overarching question is: Did Elijah really do it?

I enjoyed the PNW setting, as the author excels at conveying this vivid atmosphere. I also thought the premise was promising! However, the characters lacked depth and there were several overly simplistic plot twists down the stretch. I’d still be interesting in reading more from this author in the future!

Thanks to Atria for the advanced copy via NetGalley!

A little bit Where the Crawdads Sing, a little bit Gone Girl. I really enjoyed this immersive mystery that kept me guessing until the end. One criticism I have is that the defense presented in the murder trial was so laughably lacking until the last second. Just really unbelievable. I also had a hard time becoming emotionally invested in the main characters. I would have appreciated a little more depth and growth throughout the novel. Overall, a really strong debut.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria for the ARC.

3.5 stars

I loved that this was set in a small town on the Puget sound. The water and the forests created the perfect atmosphere to find a dead body. I was intrigued by the mystery and it kept me invested in the story. The story started slow and used flashbacks to set the scene for the current timeline.

There wasn’t much happening for the first 60% of the book, then the story really took off. The ending was satisfying but not electrifying. I wanted a little bit more excitement and tension as the mystery was solved.

I’m a huge fan of second chance romance, and I had high hopes that this would be part of the storyline. I enjoyed the romance and would have loved to see even more development in that area. The characters had their own inner struggles that impacted the relationship. The struggles felt realistic and added some forward momentum to the story arc.

With the slower pace of the novel, I expected more character development and growth. While this had some really good elements, I ended up feeling ambivalent about it.

I started out reading the ebook but 20% in switched to audio which helped me stick with the story.

This book contains no profanity, and has some kissing.

Thank you to the Publisher for my arc!


This starts off with a really strong opening but after that goes down hill. I HATE dual timelines with different characters. it drives me nuts and as i was reading i kept having to go back and reread the chapters I had already read to remember who everyone was. This was not for me.

An exceptional debut novel taking place in the Pacific Northwest. I couldn’t get enough of this atmospheric and suspenseful read. I found it incredibly unique how the discovery of Erin’s body paralleled a scene in one of Elijah’s books. The only flaw I found in this book was the rough POV transitions, but overall it was a solid debut! However, I still highly recommend reading this book!

What an incredible debut by Sarah Crouch! I absolutely loved Middletide which was about so much more than solving a mysterious death in a small community.

Elijah Leith left the small town of Point Orchards after high school to pursue his dream of being a novelist, but returns years later after failing to hit it big. He pours his energy into restoring his father's abandoned cabin and his relationship with high school sweetheart Nakita, but generally maintains a rather reclusive lifestyle. When beloved doctor Erin Landry is found dead, all signs point to an apparent suicide. As police uncover more clues, however, Elijah Leith is thrust into the spotlight as a prime suspect when it's discovered that Dr. Landry's death is an exact replica of a scene from Elijah's failed novel.

There is so much packed into this book and it's all done incredibly well. Aside from the small-town mystery, you'll find themes of romance, grief, forgiveness and second chances. It's a unique plot with some pretty great twists. I went into the book a little blindly and recommend doing the same.

The only slight issue I had was the non-linear timeline. It didn't feel like quite the right vehicle for telling this particular story mainly because the jumps in time were just a couple of years. It became hard to keep track of what time period we were in when it's 1994 vs. 1991. Personally, I would have preferred something more chronological, but it was still a great reading experience.

Thank you Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

DNF @ 44% - Putting aside due to some triggering mentions of death that are hitting a little to close to home with current life happenings.

A plodding procedural set in an ethereal Pacific Northwest town. Truly, the setting is the best part of this novel; I figured out the twist at the 50% mark. Crouch writes atmosphere exceptionally well. The two main characters in this novel - a failed author returning to his hometown, and his high school girlfriend - are both insufferable in their own ways. It's not often that I find a manic panic pixie dream girl written by a female author, but here we are.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for this ARC.

MIDDLETIDE by Sarah Crouch was an atmospheric literary suspense that had me quite engaged!

A woman is dead and it looks exactly like one that was written of in a book by Elijah Leith, who happens to be back in town, trying to rekindle a lost love as well as lost purpose.

I don't really want to say more about the story, but I was quite engaged from the beginning. It was a gorgeously told story in a setting that evokes a sense of mystique for me. I appreciated all the atmospheric descriptors, taking me away from my sweltering summer. I also enjoyed going through the character's journeys to find the motives behind various actions. Elijah was a complicated man with what felt like a coming-of-age after his father's death, looking for what was really important in life before getting derailed. I liked that the derailment included a suspicious death!

Thank you to @atriabooks & @netgalley for this digital ARC that published June 11th. I enjoyed the mystery, the characters, and the setting in this shorter book!

I am so thankful to be given my first ARC & it so happened to be Middletide! From the beginning, the cover and the synopsis of this book drew me in. Multiple timelines can be hard for me to follow in the beginning, but once I grasped it I was hooked on this book. I love how beautifully written the scenery was, as I am a big fan of the PNW in general, I loved Nakita & Elijah’s love story was woven into the story, but the mystery stood at the forefront, I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did, but I’m so glad I read it!

This was an interesting character driven novel. The characters were complex. Overall a well done debut novel. The ending felt a bit rushed and I think the courtroom scenes could have used more tension. The prose was beautiful and captured the enchanting Pacific Northwest.

What a debut!

Beautiful writing, enticing plot, small town feels! All things that I love!

This book fell a little short on the murder mystery plot though. While it's by no means awful, I feel like the reveal and reasoning was a little weak.

This author really has potential, and for a debut, I think this novel is mostly well done. I can't wait to see what she writes next!