Title: A Distant GraveAuthor: Sarah Stewart Taylor
Published by: Minotaur Books on Jun. 22, 2021
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 432
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Minotaur Books
Book Rating: 8.5/10
In the follow up to the critically acclaimed The Mountains Wild, Detective Maggie D’arcy tackles another intricate case that bridges Long Island and Ireland.
Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy and her teenage daughter, Lilly, are still recovering from the events of last fall when a strange new case demands Maggie’s attention. The body of an unidentified Irish national turns up in a wealthy Long Island beach community and with little to go on but the scars on his back, Maggie once again teams up with Garda detectives in Ireland to find out who the man was and what he was doing on Long Island. As the strands of the mystery lead Maggie to a quiet village in rural County Clare and back to her home turf, they also lead her in range of a dangerous and determined killer who will do anything to keep the victim’s story hidden forever.
With the lyrical prose, deeply drawn characters, and atmospheric setting that made The Mountains Wild one of 2020’s most anticipated summer reads, Sarah Stewart Taylor delivers another gripping mystery novel about family, survival, and the meaning of home.
Review:
Complex, sophisticated, and sharp!
In this latest novel by Taylor, A Distant Grave, we head back to Long Island, where Detective Maggie D’arcy finds herself once again immersed in an investigation that will take her from the streets of NY to the green hills of Ireland when an Irish international aid worker with a complicated past is found suspiciously murdered on the beach in Bay Shore Manor Park.
The writing is absorbing and meticulous. The characters are multifaceted, intuitive, and persistent. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine methodically into a sinister mix of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, deduction, mayhem, manipulation, corruption, politics, violence, and murder.
Overall, A Distant Grave is a dark, crafty, intriguing tale by Taylor that is thoroughly entertaining and undoubtedly another highly satisfying addition to the Maggie D’arcy series.
This book is available on June 22, 2021.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Sarah Stewart Taylor
Sarah Stewart Taylor grew up on Long Island and was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and blueberries.
Sarah is the author of THE MOUNTAINS WILD, an atmospheric thriller about a Long Island homicide detective named Maggie D'Arcy who returns to Ireland twenty-three years after the unsolved disappearance of her beloved cousin Erin in the Wicklow Mountains. When a young woman disappears and new evidence from Erin’s case is found, Maggie will have to uncover the truth about the Irish man she's never stopped loving and, in order to help Irish police save the missing woman, the truth about who Erin was and what happened to her.
It will be published by Minotaur Books on June 23, 2020.
Sarah is also the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, about an art historian who studies funerary art, "the art of death," from Minotaur Books. The first book in the series, O’ Artful Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
Her non-fiction has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications.
Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.
