17. First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong

#4 Haven's Rock

listened on Libby - Borrowed from TTPL

337 pgs.

2026
Adult murder mystery
Finished 4/27/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Yukon middle-of-nowhere wilderness

My comments: I was afraid that some of the plotting was getting too similar to others in this and the Rockton series, but this one proved me wrong.  So much "adventure in the wild" in this one, especially listening to it on audio, raising the excitement of crazy things happening in the wild outdoors-in-the-middle-of-nowhere quite a bit!  A good one.  (This one was about lost hikers and the too close-by miner's camp.)

Goodreads synopsis: Author Kelley Armstrong continues the Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock--and their safe, secure new existence--are at risk.

17. Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong

#3 Haven's Rock

listened on Libby

341 pgs.

2025
Adult Mystery
Finished 4-13-25
Goodreads rating: 4.29
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary middle-of-nowhere, Yukon, Canada

My comments: It's great to be back with Casey and crew in the middle-of-nowhere Yukon.  Casey is now eight months pregnant, in a pregnancy that has had many worries and mishaps.  Their new community is only a little over a year old and they are working hard to make it safe and happy for all, when one of the female inhabitants is kidnapped, assaulted, and rescued in the nick of time.  Shortly after that, another female disappears, found murdered in a gruesome way.  All of Haven's Rock is shocked because everyone has been vetted extremely carefully so they know that no "crazies" have been let in.  How wrong they are.  The mystery is well written, and you know that near the end of the book there's going to be a very harried birth, complete with almost tragic results.  I do enjoy and look forward to every book in the series.

Goodreads synopsis:  Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town's residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman's last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust—and who they can't—in their seemingly safe haven.

33. The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong

#2 Haven's Rock/Casey Duncan

listened on Libby - borrowed from the library
339 pgs.

copyright 2024
Adult Mystery series
Finished 4/11/24
Goodreads rating: 4.21
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Yukon, Canada

My comments:  Casey is pregnant, but of course there are possible complications.  Only a small number of new residents have arrived at Haven's Rock, but this is the first time ever that children have been included - two brothers, 10 and 13.  The whole story is about the kidnapping of the 10-year old (who seems to be as smart and savvy as Casey.  Sometimes I think that Casey's more of a mind-reader than smart and savvy?  Perhaps I need to think of Casey as a savant, since her doctor/sister, April, certainly is.  At least in the investigative way, thinking through all possible scenarios, because how else could she come up with exactly what happened each time something very weird happens?)  It was a pretty decent story, although the woods are described as not really being very big and I'm having a tough time picturing it, erasing the previous book's setting out of my mind.  There's something really weird going on in the mining village that butts their property (seems REALLY strange that it's so close, since Casey & Dalton worked so hard to be in the middle of nowhere, in proximity with no one,.  I'm pretty sure the focus of the next book with be what's going on in that mining village, but I'll have to wait for the next book....which is a whole year away!

Goodreads synopsis:  Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren't allowed to wander off alone.

When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up against.

19. Murder at Haven's Rock by Kelly Armstrong

#8 Casey Duncan/Rockton

listened on Audible - purchased

2023
352 pgs.
Adult murder mystery - series
Finished 2/28/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.41
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Northern Yukon, Canada

My comments: The Rockton adventure continues, but in a brand new location in the Yukon where their custom-built community is being constructed.  Haven's Rock is almost complete, but they have been summoned because two of its builders have disappeared into the forest.  The forest is again one of the characters in the story, and much of the plot seems similar to previous plots in the series, which gets a little bit boring/trying, I must admit.  However, there's something about these characters and the setting AND the narrator that just keep me looking forward to more, and I'm thrilled that Ms. Armstrong didn't end the series after #7.  We've still got the major players with the addition of a few new ones....Yolanda, Emily's granddaughter, who has supervised the building of Haven's Rock and ???, the handsome self-proclaimed watcher of all the comings and goings of the community from his "perch."  Never a dull moment, and as much as I mutter about the similarities in the stories, I really look forward to them.

Goodreads synopsis:  Haven’s Rock, Yukon. Population: 0

Deep in the Yukon wilderness, a town is being built. A place for people to disappear, a fresh start from a life on the run. Haven’s Rock isn’t the first town of this kind, something detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, know first hand. They met in the original town of Rockton. But greed and deception led the couple to financing a new refuge for those in need. This time around, they get to decide which applicants are approved for residency.

There’s only one rule in Haven’s Rock: stay out of the forest. When two of the town's construction crew members break it and go missing, Casey and Eric are called in ahead of schedule to track them down. When a body is discovered, well hidden with evidence of foul play, Casey and Eric must find out what happened to the dead woman, and locate the still missing man. The woman stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to see, and the longer Casey and Eric don’t know what happened, the more danger everyone is in.

58. Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong

#5 Rockton
borrowed from Bosler, listened on Libby
narrated by Therese Plummer
Unabridged audio (10:32)
2020 Minotaur Books
368 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 3/28/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.26 - 2732 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting:  Yukon wilderness, contemporary

First line/s:  "I wake under one hundred and forty pounds of dog."

My comments:  Another excellent episode in the Rockton series.  This one was spent mostly in the woods, with very little participation of the Rockton residents.  However, we get lots more insight into both settler villages and the hostiles.  This one involves finding the parents of a baby found hidden under the snow in the arms of a dead hostile.  So Casey and Eric troupe from settlement-to-settlement and back-and-forth through the woods many times to figure out what is going on.  It was a really mesmerizing story.

Goodreads synopsis:  In #1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong's latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.   
         Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that's what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there's always something to worry about.
          While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.
          A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from - and whether she's better off where she is.

27. This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong

Listened on Audible - with one of my Audible credits
2018 Minotaur Books
359 pgs.
(12:11) Unabridged Audio read by Terese Plummer
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 3/13/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.07 - 4010 ratings
My rating:  3 (4 with some parts a 2....)
Setting:  Contemporary wilds of northern Canada

First line/s:  "The season may have officially started two months ago, but it isn't really spring in Rockton until we bury our winter dead."

My comments:  I have put a quick synopsis with all sorts of spoilers at the end of this brief review.
     Most of this novel takes place in the forest outside Rockton, with Casey and Dalton and their dog, Storm, doing a lot of running around, fighting all sorts of prey - human and animal - discovering one body after another and doing a great deal of swearing.  For some this has probably been quite exciting to read, for me it got a little tedious.  Way too much for me about Storm, the dog.  The also pay a lot of attention to taking care of wounded forest animals, which I discover is definitely not my thing, either.  Ms. Armstrong also is writing Casey as the brains of the police department, making Dalton more of a patsy, IMHO.  The cliffhanger ending is frustrating.  But of course I'll read the next installment asap....as much frustration as I have, I also love Rockton!

To remember before starting next in the series:  This Fallen Prey ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.  Rockton has been given a supposed serial killer, Oliver Brady, to guard for six months.  He escapes into the forest with Val (the community "leader" and only person who can communicate with the council) as a hostage.  (Note:  Val ends up on Brady's side, and also ends up dead....) Brady's stepfather, Wallace, is flown in by Phil, only known previously as the council voice on the other end of the phone.  It is soon discovered that Wallace is the serial killer.  Lots of deaths, and a very dangerous 14-year-old first settler female come to light.  Kenny, Casey's friend and the town carpenter, ends up with a bullet lodged beside his spine.  So at the very end the stepfather, Wallace, and the teenage girl have flown away, Phil has been left as the person in charge of Rockton, Brady (who Casey discovers was not innocent, he was actually an accomplice to Wallace) has been killed by Petra, who has apparently been ordered by some unknown to do so, and Casey is going to see if she can find a way for her sister, April, who is a neurosurgeon, to be flown in to remove the bullet from Kenny, the only way he'll survive.

Goodreads synopsis:  In This Fallen Prey, the next installment of New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrongs thriller series, Casey Duncan is about to face her toughest job as police detective in Rockton yet.When Casey first arrived at the off-the-grid town, an isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect, with no cell phones, no internet, no mail, and no way of getting in or out without the town councils approval. She certainly didnt expect to be the homicide detective on two separate cases or to begin a romantic relationship with her boss. But the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned, and to keep others safe.Of course Oliver Brady claims he's being set up. But the longer Brady stays in town, the more things start to go wrong. When evidence comes to light that someone inside Rockton might be working as his accomplice, helping him to escape, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes hes truly responsible for committing. In the next page-turning entry in Kelley Armstrongs gripping series, life in Rockton is about to get even more dangerous. 

38. City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

#1 Casey Duncan
listened on Audible
2016 Sphere
471 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 4/25/18
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 7644 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary Yukon, Canada

First line/s: "'I killed a man,' I say to my new therapist."

My comments: Interesting story, darned interesting. Some really great plot twists and a setting in the forests just below the Arctic Circle that was fascinating. I adored Casey, I liked the way she thought and I loved how smart she was. Great protagonist. About 2/3 of the way through it got a little draggy and went from practically no romance to a little bit too much, but I still took quite a shine to this book.  Looking forward with great anticipation to the next.

Goodreads synopsis: Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.
          Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.