The She Shed

Publishers Weekly

Orr (The Executive Suite) crafts a cozy mystery that offers a fresh spin on the lengths we’ll go to for true love. A neighborhood dog digging up a human jawbone in idyllic Jensen Beach, Florida, gives the neighbors something to talk about—and sets off a disturbing series of events for Charlotte, whose Aunt Adeline just happens to own the bone-filled yard responsible for all the fuss. When Adeline goes missing, local law enforcement rings up Charlotte to fill her in on the investigation, and she’s shocked to discover there’s a whole host of human remains buried in her aunt’s yard.

The mystery’s standard fare here, but that doesn’t take away from the fun of unraveling Adeline’s past, particularly when Charlotte stumbles onto a cryptic poem and video log of her aunt’s seeming confession. While she’s deciphering her aunt’s clues, Charlotte gets caught up with local cop Derek—but just as things start to heat up between the two, Charlotte gets an ominous warning that there’s more to Derek than meets the eye. That suggestion sets up the novel for an unconventional twist in the end (some readers may be discomfited by revelations that keep it all in the family), but Orr keeps readers spinning with some considerable things-are-not-as-they-seem unveilings throughout.

The She Shed’s draw is undoubtedly Orr’s quirky characters. Adeline’s closest friends—“old-school Grateful Dead hippie” Randall, gal pal Millie, and the enigmatic, angry Betty—add plenty of fuel to the small-town fire, as does the questionable mayor, who’s formed his own vigilante squad to “protect women” but seems desperate to cover up the town’s slaveholding secrets at the same time. Readers will appreciate Orr’s tidy wrap-up of the murders, and most of the characters earn the happy ending they deserve; the town, however, turns out to be “full of skeletons—literally.” Backmatter includes entertaining recipes from one of the story’s main players.