I loved Where the Dead Sleep! And its lead character.

Ben Packard is the kind of sheriff every small town would be lucky to have and a detective they would be able to count on to run down every lead in search of the truth, no matter where it takes him. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t forces in play, some not even relegated to the shadows, that not only challenge his mission and authority but also his life.

In Where the Dead Sleep, Joshua Moehling offers us a beautifully written, turn-the-page thriller set in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, a small town with loads of charm and just as many secrets. In this sequel to And There He Kept Her, the fact that their acting sheriff, a relative newcomer, is gay is no longer one of them.

With a plethora of suspects in the murder of Bill Sandersen, a local unambitious partier who had married into one of the town’s founding families not once but twice, Packard has his work cut out for him, not only in the case but also settling into a place he knew as a child, for better or worse.

I love the relationships between the characters, so richly drawn that you know them. Ease and tension, jokes and silence, love and violence, Moehling captures it all.

I highly recommend Where the Dead Sleep. When I turned the last page, I was excited for the next Ben Packard mystery (I’ve already ordered the first) and started wondering who would play one of my new favorite detectives onscreen. I’m thinking Henry Cavill.

I received an advanced reader copy of Where the Dead Sleep from Poisoned Pen Press. This review is fair and impartial.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.