Ashes in the Pines by Chad Alan Gibbs

 

Synopsis:

After solving two cold case murders during her sophomore year—not to mention getting expelled, arrested, and nearly killed—Izzy Brown longs for a normal teenage summer. A summer that, at a bare minimum, won’t involve a murderous psycho holding her at gunpoint.

Seeking a fresh start, Izzy moves north with her family to Ashes in the Pines, a resort town in the Appalachian Mountains. There she lands a job at Fuller Farms, the luxury summer camp of choice for children of the uber-rich. A camp that Izzy’s best friend, Elton Jones-Davies, happens to be attending.

But then Izzy learns she wasn’t hired to serve meals in the Fuller Farms dining hall. She was hired to solve the murder of a camp counselor seventeen years earlier. Izzy and Elton try to unravel the camp’s deadly secrets but are thwarted at every step by those who want to hide the truth. So much for a normal teenage summer.

Set in 2009 during the Great Recession and the first wave of the opioid epidemic, Ashes in the Pines is the third book in the Izzy and Elton Mystery Series.

Review:

Ashes In The Pines is a terrific novel.

This is the second book I've read written by this author, his wording is enticing and engaging, the flow is well paced and every little revelation is useful to solve the case.

Izzy Brown is back in the US, she is back living with her mother and brother after her little european parenthesis. She wants to survive the Summer in Ashes In The Pines without getting involved in some other ugly cold murder. She gets a job at the renowned Fuller Farms camp for rich kids, in order to help her family getting on, but pretty soon she discover that the owner's son was brutally killed in 1992. Will Izzy succeed to spend the Summer as a common teen or will she spend it investigating?

I love Izzy. She is my favourite girl, she is likable even if she is a flawed character. She is not able to stay out of trouble. She is resilient and never give up. She is also loyal and fight for give justice to the victims. I hope her life gets easier, at times I only want to give her a hug.

Chad Alan Gibbs wrote a well thought out mystery, full of drama, corruption and depravation, with characters that carry on the story.

I highly recommend this novel, and to also read the previous books in the series, because for me you can't miss this amazing teen sleuth.

Release Date: 05.23.2023