Talking to Strangers is a women’s mystery. Karen Simmons lives the life of a vibrant, sexually healthy woman in her 40s. Her murder on Valentine’s Day draws together three unlikely allies. Detective Elise King and her sergeant conduct a police investigation. Small town reporter Kiki had featured Karen in a story. A grieving mother, Annie’s 8-yr old son died in the same forest 16-years prior. It will take all of them to find the solution to Karen’s murder.
Bottom line: Talking to Strangers is for you if you like mysteries woven into the real-life drama of the modern middle-aged woman.
The strength of Talking To Strangers is the storytelling style. This is a book in three-parts, with no part more or less important than the others. A well-balanced story, the narrators are distinct and individualistic. Karen’s death is the mechanism used to explore different but real-life challenges common in the lives of women in their 40s and beyond.
Elise is the police detective who is facing the one-year anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis. Still recovering mentally and physically from a mastectomy and chemo, she’s working to get back to the person she was. Life suddenly looks up when a sexy new neighbor moves in.
Kiki is the journalist who gave up the big city job when she became a single mom. Now with her daughter turning 13, Kiki longs for stories bigger than the small town paper she works for. Her current feature is on the dating scene for women in their 40s and her star is Karen Simmons. Karen’s death spurs her to dig deeper, unearthing a group of twisted men who treat dating as a dirty sport.
Annie is a wife and a mother. Sixteen years ago, her two boys were playing in the forest. Only one came home. A man was arrested for his murder, but he suicided in police custody and Annie never got the answers she needed. When Karen’s murder makes the news, Annie recognizes her as the woman who cut the family’s hair in their old town. Feelings buried, memories recessed boil to the surface, driving Annie to act for Karen, for her lost son, for herself.
In the same age group, the three women have different lifestyles. Themes of loneliness and surviving mental and/or physical trauma are part of each story.
The mystery is a challenge to review. There is little evidence for Elise and Kiki to work with. The suspects are derived from Karen’s dating life and one by one, explored and eliminated until there is only one remaining. I did not think the same level of detail was given to exploring background and alibi of the last person standing as was given to the others. At the end of the book, I was left with a number of questions, which were answered in the epilogue. While this made for a feeling of closure, it highlighted that the story was not really finished when the book ended.
TALKING TO STRANGERS was very well written and the stories of the three narrating women were engaging. This was listed on Amazon as Women’s Crime Fiction, Women’s Psychological Fiction, and Psychological Thriller. The common theme is this book was written for women and their experiences in their 40s and beyond. This is stronger as a women’s fiction story than a mystery, but all around enjoyable.
TG Wolff 