{"id":26297,"date":"2020-09-09T07:41:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T11:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=26297"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","slug":"review-in-a-midnight-wood-by-ellen-hart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/09\/review-in-a-midnight-wood-by-ellen-hart\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \ud83d\udd0d In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-26297\" data-postid=\"26297\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-26297 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/in-a-midnight-wood-ellen-hart.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart\" alt=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless is headed on a little getaway. She and her best friend, Cordelia Thorn, plan to visit their old friend Emma in her hometown of Castle Lake, while also participating in the small town&#8217;s local art festival. Between the festival and an upcoming high school reunion for the class of 1999, no one in Castle Lake is quite sure who will make an appearance.<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">But back in 1999, Emma&#8217;s boyfriend and Castle Lake high school senior Sam Romilly went missing. Everyone thought he ran away, though the town rumor mill has always claimed his father murdered him. Today, within a week of his class&#8217;s 20th reunion, Sam\u2019s remains are found in someone else&#8217;s burial plot. Suddenly the case is warming up fast. People who knew Sam\u2014friends and enemies alike\u2014will be in town for the much anticipated reunion. It\u2019s up to Jane to sort the innocent from the guilty, before it&#8217;s too late.<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg?resize=146%2C44\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 8, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>A Jane Lawless Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>27<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Macmillan<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Minotaur Books<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $13.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><br \/>Jane Lawless<\/strong> is a former private investigator who now works part-time for a Minneapolis podcast. She is also a restaurateur who is staying with her friends Cordelia and Emma in the small town of Castle Lake for their arts festival. While in town, the body of Emma\u2019s high school boyfriend, Sam Romilly, who had disappeared twenty years ago is discovered buried under someone else\u2019s coffin. Jane decides Sam\u2019s murder would make the perfect topic for her true crime podcast and Emma is on board if it can help bring justice for Sam. However, other prominent residents in the town have worked hard to keep the circumstances of Sam\u2019s death secret and will do what it takes to keep the truth from coming out.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>In a Midnight Wood <\/strong>is the latest in a long-running series. It\u2019s the first I\u2019ve read so I appreciate that the author included a list of characters at the beginning of the book. This came in handy keeping track of all of the various people in the story. However, it didn\u2019t help me to connect with the characters. I liked the main character, Jane, the most. She is smart and not afraid to go after the truth. She is grieving the death of her on-again\/off-again girlfriend, but hasn\u2019t given up on finding love. However, I found her best friend Cordelia to be annoying and too over-the-top, even for a theater director. Emma plays a large part in the story, but I never felt I got to know what she was really like.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The plot of the book is interesting and as more and more secrets are revealed, the more potential suspects in Sam\u2019s murder are added to Jane\u2019s list. The official investigation is complicated since one of the top suspects is Detective Sergeant Dave Tamborsky, the person leading the investigation. Jane\u2019s sleuthing becomes even more important since she seems to be the only objective person who just wants to find out the truth. I liked the idea of Jane doing research for a podcast, but unfortunately that aspect of the book never came to life. Without any excerpts of the finished product, Jane just seemed like any other amateur sleuth instead of a podcaster. There is also a bit too much political and social commentary in the book for my taste and each instance took me out of the story. There are some interesting parts to the way the story ends, but others are a let down after the build-up given throughout the book. This isn\u2019t a series I am interested in following, but I think fans of the author will like seeing the developments in Jane\u2019s complicated personal life.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/336LwFa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/in-a-midnight-wood\/id1487482815?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/in-a-midnight-wood-ellen-hart\/1132911595?ean=9781250308450\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/in-a-midnight-wood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Ellen_Hart_In_a_Midnight_Wood?id=ZVC9DwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless is headed on a little getaway. She and her best friend, Cordelia Thorn, plan to visit their old friend Emma [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,119,123,48],"tags":[148,223,367],"class_list":["post-26297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christine","category-macmillan","category-minotaur-books","category-reviews","tag-3-5-stars","tag-cozy-mystery","tag-mystery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \ud83d\udd0d In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/09\/review-in-a-midnight-wood-by-ellen-hart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless is headed on a little getaway. 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She and her best friend, Cordelia Thorn, plan to visit their old friend Emma in her hometown of Castle Lake, while also participating in the small town's local art festival. Between the festival and an upcoming high school reunion for the class of 1999, no one in Castle Lake is quite sure who will make an appearance.<br \/><br \/>But back in 1999, Emma's boyfriend and Castle Lake high school senior Sam Romilly went missing. Everyone thought he ran away, though the town rumor mill has always claimed his father murdered him. Today, within a week of his class's 20th reunion, Sam\u2019s remains are found in someone else's burial plot. Suddenly the case is warming up fast. People who knew Sam\u2014friends and enemies alike\u2014will be in town for the much anticipated reunion. It\u2019s up to Jane to sort the innocent from the guilty, before it's too late.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 8, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>A Jane Lawless Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>27<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Macmillan<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Minotaur Books<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $13.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><br \/>Jane Lawless<\/strong> is a former private investigator who now works part-time for a Minneapolis podcast. She is also a restaurateur who is staying with her friends Cordelia and Emma in the small town of Castle Lake for their arts festival. While in town, the body of Emma\u2019s high school boyfriend, Sam Romilly, who had disappeared twenty years ago is discovered buried under someone else\u2019s coffin. Jane decides Sam\u2019s murder would make the perfect topic for her true crime podcast and Emma is on board if it can help bring justice for Sam. However, other prominent residents in the town have worked hard to keep the circumstances of Sam\u2019s death secret and will do what it takes to keep the truth from coming out.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>In a Midnight Wood <\/strong>is the latest in a long-running series. It\u2019s the first I\u2019ve read so I appreciate that the author included a list of characters at the beginning of the book. This came in handy keeping track of all of the various people in the story. However, it didn\u2019t help me to connect with the characters. I liked the main character, Jane, the most. She is smart and not afraid to go after the truth. She is grieving the death of her on-again\/off-again girlfriend, but hasn\u2019t given up on finding love. However, I found her best friend Cordelia to be annoying and too over-the-top, even for a theater director. Emma plays a large part in the story, but I never felt I got to know what she was really like.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The plot of the book is interesting and as more and more secrets are revealed, the more potential suspects in Sam\u2019s murder are added to Jane\u2019s list. The official investigation is complicated since one of the top suspects is Detective Sergeant Dave Tamborsky, the person leading the investigation. Jane\u2019s sleuthing becomes even more important since she seems to be the only objective person who just wants to find out the truth. I liked the idea of Jane doing research for a podcast, but unfortunately that aspect of the book never came to life. Without any excerpts of the finished product, Jane just seemed like any other amateur sleuth instead of a podcaster. There is also a bit too much political and social commentary in the book for my taste and each instance took me out of the story. There are some interesting parts to the way the story ends, but others are a let down after the build-up given throughout the book. This isn\u2019t a series I am interested in following, but I think fans of the author will like seeing the developments in Jane\u2019s complicated personal life.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/336LwFa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/in-a-midnight-wood\/id1487482815?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/in-a-midnight-wood-ellen-hart\/1132911595?ean=9781250308450\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/in-a-midnight-wood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Ellen_Hart_In_a_Midnight_Wood?id=ZVC9DwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}