Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and author Louise Marley for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Murder at Raven’s Hollow is the third book in author Louise Marley’s An English Village Mystery series. Despite not having read earlier books in the series, I had no issue following the characters here.

There’s an old greenhouse of sorts in the woods behind where D.S. Harriet March lives in the town of Raven’s Edge. The owners of the property have set their eyes on restoring this antique glass house to its former glory. Unfortunately, as they are cleaning the area inside the old house, they stumble across a skeleton. At first, they think it’s animal bones, but they turn out to be human.

As D.S. March and D.I. Ben Taylor investigate the decades-old mystery, they look back nearly thirty years into missing persons cases. This dates back to when Harriet’s father was on the force. They find out he investigated the case of a missing police officer and wrote off his disappearance to running away with a lover. As they look into that officer’s background, everything seems to contradict what is in the official report, putting Harriet on the defensive.

At the same time, there’s a new resident in town. Famous novelist Irene Evergreen has ties to the town and has moved into Raven’s Hollow, a mansion that belonged to her ancestors at one time. Her great-grandfather is the stuff of legends in the area, having gone out for a walk one day and seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth. Soon after moving in, someone breaks into Raven’s Hollow and nearly kills Iris. She manages to defend herself, but in the process, she kills the intruder. Afraid that events in her past will mean the police won’t believe her story, she dumps the body out on the road, hoping he will be written off as the victim of a hit-and-run.

These seemingly unrelated cases actually are, but it means that Harriet is about to learn some uncomfortable truths about her family and childhood.

It took me a while to really get into Murder at Raven’s Hollow. The story jumps around between different time periods, and at times this made it hard to figure out what was going on. It was also hard to follow in terms of the descriptions of the people involved. The body was discovered where Harriet lives now, which I thought, at first, was the home that was being depicted in the flashbacks. It wasn’t, however, and it was only once I finished the book that I understood that I had two people confused.

The mystery here is good, though. I didn’t guess what actually had happened at all, although there were many clues. Harriet is an interesting character, but she retreats into herself when she’s not working and doesn’t have a wide circle of friends outside of her job. Perhaps there’s a reason for it, though. She’s living in the shadow of her deceased police officer father who was a hero in town when he saved three people from drowning, although it cost him his own life. He died when she was young, so all she has of him is the larger-than-life reputation. Her mother, meanwhile, seems to be the most selfish woman on the planet, only wanting her daughter around when it can benefit her. It makes it hard to maintain relationships with people when you’re taught that love is transactional.

Iris also makes a compelling character as she’s trying to learn the truth about her own family. There are ghosts in her past and she seems to carry many burdens that weigh her down. Despite being a famous author, she rejects the limelight and is afraid of tabloids delving too far into her past. She also shies away from relationships, but Raven’s Edge has a way of drawing people in with its quirkiness and soon finds herself involved with a local bookseller.

I did like Murder at Raven’s Hollow and gave it four stars. I had a little bit of trouble following it and getting into it, but once I did it drew me right in. If I’d read the earlier books I might have had an easier time following the characters, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out on much by not having read them. The characters are interesting and the setting is quirky and fun enough that I wanted to visit this eerie town.