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.