Thursday, March 27, 2025

Four mystery novels that explore legacy

Benjamin Bradley is a member of both Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He's the author of the Shepard & Kelly Mystery series through Indies United Publishing House and his short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Reckon Review and Flash Fiction Magazine. He works in public health and homelessness and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, their cat Fox, and their dog Harper.

Bradley's new novel is What He Left Behind.

At CrimeReads he tagged four mystery titles that explore legacy. One entry on the list:
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The Van Laar family has been through the wringer and in this multiple timeline slow burn from Liz Moore; so many moments and interactions provoke questions about legacy and what we leave in our wake when we go. Family names play a big part in legacies; some are built by them and some are undone, but as the past meets the present here, almost every character in the novel faces some question about their legacy and life.
Read about another mystery on the list.

The God of the Woods is among Sandra Chwialkowska's five titles where bad things happen in beautiful places, Midge Raymond's eight books about women keeping secrets and Molly Odintz's eight thrillers & horror novels set at terrible summer camps.

--Marshal Zeringue