4. No One Knew by Kendra Elliott

#2 Noelle Marshall

listened on Audible

314 pgs.

2026
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 1/18/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.40
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Oregon

My comments: I've been reading too many books with similar settings lately as well as similar characters, and that's probably not a good idea.  This takes place in central Oregon where the lead detective and the FBI agent involved in the case are lovers.....and is about nasty redneck good-ole-boys in a militia.  So much rubbed me the wrong way.  Still decent writing from Elliot, but it's time for me to move on from these for awhile.

Goodreads synopsis:  For a detective and an FBI agent, two seemingly disparate murder investigations collide with a twist in an explosive novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

In the crisp mountain air of central Oregon, a teenage girl’s search for discarded cans leads to a horrifying a body, brutally murdered and abandoned in the woods. The case falls to Deschutes County Detective Noelle Marshall, who finds herself navigating a community steeped in secrets, suspicion, and distrust of outsiders—especially law enforcement.

Miles away, FBI Special Agent Max Rhodes investigates a different kind of darkness—chatter about a violent uprising from a shadowy militia group preparing for war. The two cases seem worlds apart. But as Noelle digs into the murdered man’s past and Max closes in on the source of the terror plot, their paths begin to converge in a terrifying way. This was no random killing. It was a message. A merciless killer and a hidden army are operating in the same shadows, and finding the link between them is the only thing standing between a single murder and a full-blown massacre.

29. Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliott

#1 Noelle Marshall, Bend, OR police detective

listened on Audible 

343pgs.

2025
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 6/30/25 (Happy Birthday, Mom!)
Goodreads rating: 3.42
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Bend, OR

My comments: 4.5  An excellent first-in-a-series about a police detective in Bend, Oregon, which mainly centers around her own personal mystery, the murder of her politician-husband.  Told back and forth during three time periods, it's an attention-grabbing story to be sure!  Just what I needed

Goodreads synopsis:  When a very personal cold case murder is reopened, a detective’s secrets come to light in a novel of shocking twists and suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Thirteen years ago, Assemblyman Derrick Bell was murdered in his home by an intruder. His wife, Noelle Marshall, was left for dead. The crime was unsolved, but it wasn’t forgotten.

Today the FBI is tackling a fresh perspective on the case and looking to Noelle, now a detective for the Deschutes County sheriff’s office, for new clues. It is reopening everything Noelle thought was behind her. Memories of her escape from a traumatic childhood. A marriage that wasn’t the perfect love story she’d been promised. And a husband whose charm and privilege hid a dark side. But Noelle has been hiding something a secret about the night Derrick died that she has never told anyone.

As past and present and leads and misleads collide, one thing is frighteningly clear. Derrick’s murder wasn’t just unsolved. It’s unfinished. And only the truth—no matter the risk—can save the next victim.

118. The Child Finder by Renee Denfeld

#1 Naomi Cottle
Listened to audio - on Audible
narrated  by Alyssa Bresnahan
Unabridged audio (8:40)
2017, Harper
274 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished  11/23/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.97 - 30,045 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Oregon woods

First line/s::  "The home was a small yellow cottage on an empty street. There was something dispirited about it, but Naomi was used to that."

My comments: Finished this in the air approaching Oakland.  Super interesting!  A woman who had been a captive and escaped as a child becomes a child finder herself, as she oh-s-slowly begins to remember bits and pieces of her past.  The story flips back and forth between Naomi (the protagonist) and Madison/the Snowgirl, who Naomi is trying to find in the present.  Fascinating story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A haunting, atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl.
          "Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?"
          Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope.
          Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.
          As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
          Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

96. A Merciful Truth by Kendra Elliot

#2 Mercy Kilpatrick, Oregon FBI
read on my iPhone (have on Kindle)
2017 Montlake Romance (See, I've being saying this is more a romance than a mystery!!!)
322 pgs.
Adult Mystery with a lot of romance
Finished 10/4/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.25 - 15,481 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting:  Contemporary rural Oregon

First line/s: "Police Chief Truman Daly slammed the door of his Tahoe and raised a hand to protect his face from the heat of the fire."

My comments:  This took me forever to finish, I slowly plowed through over a month's time while listening to others.  Mystery, yes, but also a great deal of romance, a little more than I was happy with.  The story was easy to follow and predictable.  Family means everything to mercy, no matter what injustices they enact.  It's a little nauseating.

Goodreads synopsis:  Raised by a family of survivalists, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick can take on any challenge—even the hostile reception to her homecoming. But she’s not the only one causing chaos in the rural community of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. At first believed to be teenage pranks, a series of fires takes a deadly turn with the murder of two sheriff’s deputies. Now, along with Police Chief Truman Daly, Mercy is on the hunt for an arsonist turned killer.
          Still shunned by her family and members of the community, Mercy must keep her ear close to the ground to pick up any leads. And it’s not long before she hears rumors of the area’s growing antigovernment militia movement. If the arsonist is among their ranks, Mercy is determined to smoke the culprit out. But when her investigation uncovers a shocking secret, will this hunt for a madman turn into her own trial by fire?

92. A Lighthouse for the Lonely Heart by Scott William Carter

#5 Garrison Gage
listened - Audible/own
narrated by Steven Roy Grimsley
Unabridged audio (11:04)
2017 Flying Raven Press
406 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 9/26/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.19 - 219 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Contemporary Coastal Oregon

First line/s:  "The ocean churned, wild and unforgiving, buffeting the boat from all sides."

My comments:  Didn't enjoy this quite as much as some of the previous, though it was entertaining and not unlikable.  In this one, Gage does some sleuthing for a very famous female singer - who he ends up having a relationships with - before she is kidnapped.  Quite a bit of on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense and adventure, and lots and lots of hand-to-hand, face-to-face fighting.

Goodreads synopsis:  They find his body at the bottom of Heceta Head Lighthouse—Ed Boone, a longtime volunteer who commits suicide rather than see his grim diagnosis to its bitter end. The strangeness of the old man's death makes the local news, but Garrison Gage thinks little of it until the famous Nora West sneaks into town with an unsettling letter in hand.
          Professing he wants to go to his grave with a clear conscience, Ed claims to be Nora's biological father. But the revelation stirs up all kinds of complicated emotions for the talented but troubled musician, who hires Gage to find out the truth.
          Yet the truth may be a lot more disturbing — and dangerous — than either of them expect.

24. A Shroud of Tattered Sails by Scott William Carter

#4 Garrison Gage, Oregon Coast PI
Listened on Audible
Read by Steven Roy Grimsley
Unabridged (8:43)
2015 Flying Raven Press (2016 for Audio)
282 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished March 3, 2019
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 376 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon Coast

First line/s:  "They walked side by side, but alone."

My comments:  Garrison Gage seems to be even more sarcastic and witty in this fourth installment, set again in Barnacle Bluffs, a beautiful tourist town on the Oregon coast.  By the end of this book, Garrison's life seems to be coming together in a really positive way - both with Zoe and a new love interest for himself.  And I'm not sure how I feel about that, to tell the truth.  I'm not sure how having a close relationship will work for him.  This was another good mystery, but not my favorite so far.  But still a 4!

Goodreads synopsis:  A beached sailboat. A missing man. A distraught woman staggering ashore. There to greet her—Garrison Gage, full-time curmudgeon and part-time private investigator, who quickly finds himself thrust into his familiar role of crusader for the desperate and downtrodden. The woman claims to have no memory, but is she lying? 
          When a body later washes ashore, the mystery deepens and the stakes ratchet up another notch. Dark money and even darker intentions. Violence both threatened and real. The woman may be at the heart of it all, or merely an innocent interloper who chose the wrong boat at the wrong time. Only Gage can discover the truth.

50. Allusion by Andi Hyldahl

read on my iPhone
2017, CreateSpace Independent
365 pgs.
YA Mystery
Finished 6/7/18
Goodreads rating: 4.26 - 61 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Yachnats and Eugene, Oregon

First line/s: "A dusty maroon pickup approaches.  My pulse surges.  My timing is dead on.  I duck under the foliage and heft up my dad's ancient binoculars zooming in on two large hands gripping ten and two."

My comments:   Although quite implausible,  this is suspenseful mystery was great fun to read, especially as long as you took everything with a grain of salt and a little bit of eye-rolling…..great-looking-super-athlete-with-no-girlfriend-ha!-Tosh and gorgeous-never-been-kissed-even-though-she’s-eighteen-Lucy do make a great pair.....  And my less-than-five rating does NOT mean I couldn't put it down....because I couldn't!

Goodreads synopsis: Every year, an anonymous gift is left on eighteen-year-old Lucy’s porch. It’s the only gift she receives all year, and it’s exactly what she needs. This year’s gift exposes hidden clues, untangling the undisclosed fates of her parents. Along the way, she finds Toph, a college athlete who’s easy on the eyes and deems to be more useful than suspected. With the help of her best friend Art, a chemistry genius who resides at the nursing home where she’s employed, she delves into an impossible mission for truth, love, and freedom.

47. The Lovely Wicked Rain by Scott William Carter

#3 Garrison Gage
listened to on Audible
2014 Flying Raven Press
285 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished My 31, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.16 - 610 ratings
My rating: 4.5 This was a particularly good one, or maybe it was just the mood I was in, but I really liked it a lot.
Setting:

First line/s:  "It was raining.  It was a hard rain.  It was not a drizzle or a mist, so often the case on the Oregon coast, but a loud, powerful, torrential downpour -- rattling the windows that circled the little room, crackling on the aluminum roof a few feet above their heads, rising and falling with the moaning of the wind but never subsiding for long."

My comments:  Excellently plotted mystery with great description and some really funny banter from the protagonist.  Characters were really well drawn and the setting was a huge part of the story.  All the components worked together so well, including an outstanding reader, making a truly mesmerizing story for a lot of hours on the road.  This was thrived in the series and in a way I feel like they're getting even better, though it's been a bit since I read the other two, so this might be just as good - I remember liking them quite well - Garrison Gage, the protagonist, being the hardest person to get to know.  Second only to Virgil Flowers, I think!

Goodreads synopsis:  They find him on the beach, shooting bullets into the sand.
          His name? Jeremiah Cooper, the son of the bullheaded high school football coach. Slight of build, soft of voice, he's got all kinds of torment lurking behind his eyes. But despite Garrison Gage's best efforts, he can't pull the kid out of his shell. Then someone turns up dead at the local community college, and Jeremiah's fragile world shatters.
          Add a crisis in Gage's good friend's life, an ongoing feud with his adopted daughter about her life choices, and a hauntingly beautiful FBI agent with secrets of her own, and it's a lot more drama than a half-retired private investigator with a bum knee wanted. Whatever happened to quiet rainy nights sipping bourbon, watching the sun sink beneath the waves on the Oregon coast, and trying to think of a ten-letter word that means grumpy and glad about it?
          But before Gage can even write the word curmudgeon, he's pulled deeper into Jeremiah's world--a world of sex, secrets, and a sadistic evil that preys on human weakness.

53. A Desperate Place for Dying by William Scott Carter

(Pseudonym:  Jack Nolte)
Read on Audible
Audio read by Roy Grimsley
2012, Flying Raven Press
262 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 8/31/17
Goodreads rating: 4.09 - 498 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Wet and windy Oregon coast, contemporary

First line/s:  "His real name was Anthony Bruzzi, but at his trial he told the judge that only his mother called him Anthony -- everybody else just called him Tony."

My comments:

If you like mystery series, here’s one you might not have heard of.  It’s pretty fast-paced.  Interesting, imperfect characters.  Constant surprises.  Dry humor.  This second in the series takes place about a year after the first, and has curmudgeon Garrison Gage dealing with a teenage girl he’s now guardian of, and some love-life problems he never thought he’d encounter again.  And the mystery is really good! ( I listened to this - read by Steven Roy Grimsley, who was terrific.)

Goodreads synopsis: 
     An old flame.
     A killer on the loose.
     A crazy cult on the rise.
     Nearly a year has passed since Garrison Gage became the reluctant guardian of a troubled teenage girl, but neither fatherhood nor the intervening months have improved his mood. His right knee is still mostly worthless. He still prefers to drink his bourbon alone. And even with a certain blonde bombshell a persistent part of his life, he still can't be bothered to buy a cell phone. Or any phone, for that matter. Why? Then somebody might call him.
     But grumpy as Gage can be, he still finds that life on the Oregon Coast has settled into a comfortable if not happy routine - until the man who murdered his wife shows up in town.
     That's just for starters. A desperate plea from an old flame - his first love, in fact - soon entangles Gage in a high profile case involving a famous and brazenly outspoken lecturer on evolution and atheism, a crazy fundamentalist cult that uses all means necessary to silence its critics, and a brutal local murder of a far more personal nature.
     Before the mystery can be unraveled, Gage's abilities and beliefs will be put to the ultimate test. And the man who claims he doesn't need anyone will discover he may just lose everything.

30. A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

read on my iPhone
2017, Montlake Romance
342 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 5/29/17
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 6951 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary rural Oregon

First line/s:  "Mercy Kilpatrick wondered whom she'd ticked off at the Portland FBI office."

My comments:  Characters and setting were interesting and well written.  The idea of a community of people who are survivalists is intriguing, and although the protagonist, Mercy, had left this way of life when she was only 18, it was still a big part of her and she was still drawn to many of its tenants. Sheriff Truman Daly was almost a little too good to be true and hard to believe that he had not already been snatched up by some female or other.   The plot moved along at a decent pace, and though the "surprises" weren't really surprises, it was fun to see how Mercy pulled all the little ends together.  At times it was a little disconcerting that the point-of-view would change for a very short time, switching back very quickly to one of the two main protagonists.  I'll be interested to see whether this is something that will continue in the next book or it it was the only way Kendra Elliot though she could subtly include needed information.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, which comes out in a few months.

Goodreads synopsis  FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.          
          Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…

7. The Gray and Guilty Sea by Jack Nolte - now using his real name, Scott William Carter

Garrison Gage #1
Listened on Audible
Audio read by Steven Roy Grimsley
2010 Flying Raven Press
268 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 2-13-17 while unpacking my house
Goodreads rating: 3.82 (3087 ratings)
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Oregon coast - small town tourist community

My comments:  This book was a nice discovery.  It had a really interesting external mystery as well as the protagonist's internal turmoils about his past, present, disabilities, and relationship hangups.  Garrison Gage has a curmudgeonly wit and a really good detective's way of looking at evidence and coming up with numerous possibilities.  I also really enjoyed the writing - there were super descriptions without being tedious; similes and metaphors that made me smile; and some really beautiful language.  I look forward to the next in the series, not only to see if and how his previously-retired private investigations will continue, but what he's going to do about the burgeoning relationships that have been forged in this book.

Goodreads synopsis:  A curmudgeon. An iconoclast. A loner. That's how people describe Garrison Gage, and that's when they're being charitable. After his wife is brutally murdered in New York, and Gage himself is beaten nearly to death, the crippled misanthrope retreats three thousand miles to the quaint coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon. He spends the next five years in a convalescent stupor, content to bide his time filling out crossword puzzles and trying to forget that his wife's death is his fault. But all that changes when he discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach, and his conscience draws him back into his old occupation, forcing him to confront the demons of his own guilt before he can hope to solve the girl's murder.

MOVIE - Wild

R (1:55)

12/3/14 Limited release

Viewed 1/13/15 at Roadhouse all by my lonesome

RT Critic: 91   Audience:  82  

Cag:  5/Terrific movie

Directed by Jean -Marc Vallee

20th Century Fox

Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed

Reese Witherspoon

My comments:   I saw this on Tuesday night, tossed and turned all night thinking about it, and couldn't get it out of my head the next day.  For me, the overall theme is how powerfully the many different ways we grieve play out.  I hadn't read the book, though I was always drawn to it.  And I wonder how Cheryl Strayed is dealing with her grief....her decisions....and her life, now.  Her unbelievable determination was/is so amazing.

RT: Summary:  With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.

3. Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain

#2 Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell ("the Beauty Killer")

audio read by Carolyn McCormick

8 discs, 9.5 hours

2008, Macmillan Audio

328 pages

Murder Mystery (pretty grisly) written for adults

finished Sat. 1-12-13

Goodreads rating:  3.97

My rating:  4 Liked it, despite a tiny bit of wondering if one part of the scenario would really happen...

Acquired through PBS

Setting:  contemporary Portland, Oregon

1^st sentence/s  "Forest Park was pretty in the summer.  Portland's ash sky was barely visible behind a canopy of aspens, hemlock, cedars,and maples that filtered the light to a shimmering pale green."

Goodreads Review:

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. This body can't be one of Gretchen's—she’s in prison—but after help from reporter Susan Ward uncovers the dead woman's identity, it turns into another big case. Trouble is, Archie can't focus on the new investigation because the Beauty Killer case has exploded: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison.

Archie hadn't seen her in two months; he'd moved back in with his family and sworn off visiting her. Though it should feel like progress, he actually feels worse. The news of her escape spreads like wildfire, but secretly, he's relieved. He knows he's the only one who can catch her, and in fact, he has a plan to get out from under her thumb once and for all.

My comments

Oh, Archie, how can you let yourself become so obsessed by Gretchen, so addicted to pain killers, and stay such a likable guy?  This second story in the series added the dimension of newspaper reporter Susan Ward and her research into the past of senator who had years previously had a fling with a 14-year old.  Susan is a 28 year old turquoise-haired, cigarette-puffing, almost-Stephanie-Plum-like character who becomes the unlikely sidekick to Archie and his partner, Henry.  Her mother, a white-haired, dreadlocked old hippie, is a hoot, and her antics are a slightly humorous addition to the story.  And at the end, Gretchen is on the loose again....

53. The Day Before - Lisa Schroeder

2011, Simon Pulse
Goodreads rating: 4.00
cag: 4
for: YA
309 pages
paper $9,99

Setting:  Contemporary Oregon coast
First line/s:  Some mornings,/it's hard to get/out of bed.

Written in verse, the story pulls you right in and along. Easy-to-read in one two-hour sitting, leaves a lot to think about. Two young people head to the beach for one last day before some pretty major events will change their lives forever. Very likable teens, Cade and Amber.  They meet when their eyes meet at the jellyfish tank at the aquarium.

Beautiful writing:

I like

the memories
because they remind me
I haven't always been
this girl,
constantly
mad or scared
or confused.

I don't like

the memories
because the tears
come easily,
and once again I break
my promise 
to myself for this day.

It's a constant battle.