What Really Happened to Greer Larkin?
This last December, a friend surprised me with a book, Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson. This mystery hadn’t even crossed my radar, but she happens to know the authors, and, since she knows I love mysteries, she sent it my way. While I struggled with parts, overall, I enjoyed it.
June Masterson is an aspiring filmmaker about to get a graduate degree in documentary making. The trouble is, she has to settle on her final project, and she keeps changing her focus. Nothing is exciting her until she lands on the idea of doing a documentary on the disappearance of Greer Larkin.
Greer was a shining star in the mystery world, bursting onto the scene as a teenager. But then, after releasing only a handful of books, she vanished after a very public fight with her fiancé. That was twenty years ago, and no one has heard from her since.
June has been a fan of the author for years, and she has followed over scrap of news over the author’s fate. As she interviews the principles in Greer’s life, conflicting theories and reports surface. The stakes are raised when someone starts threatening Greer. Can she figure out what happened to Greer? Or will she have to settle for an unsatisfactory ending to her documentary? Will she even finish it on time?
I’ve got to say, I struggled with parts of this book while being completely caught up in other aspects of it. I struggled the most with June herself. She is making some choices that made me want to sit her down and help her see sense. I found many scenes around this to be difficult to read. On the other hand, it gave us a great opportunity for some growth in June.
The main mystery of what really happened to Greer is solid. I changed my mind multiple times over what I thought had happened all those years ago. With so many of the main people in her life still alive, it gave us modern stakes even if the case was so old. I liked that.
This is a weird book to place in a sub-genre of mystery. We have an amateur sleuth, which makes it lean toward cozy. But some of the content is too strong to really even be traditional. Despite how it might sound, this really isn’t a thriller either. However you want to sub-classify it, this is a good mystery.
That’s because, as we reached the climax, things came together wonderfully. I did not see much of what June unearthed coming, but I was very pleased with how the author pulled it off. One aspect of the book was left up in the air, and I would love to know what happened with that. Maybe in a sequel? I could definitely see it being used as fodder for a new book.
Ultimately, I turned the last page of Her Dying Day glad my friend sent it on to me. If you enjoy a mystery that will keep you engaged, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.
I love this premise sooo much but it sounds like June will drive me a bit crazy! I regularly find I want to have sit downs with fictional characters and she definitely sounds like one who needs it. I'm adding this one to my TBR.
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