Echoes Among the Stones

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Title: Echoes Among the Stones

Author: Jaime Jo Wright

Genre: Mystery

Publishing Date: Dec 3, 2019

Publisher: Bethany House

Length: 352 Pages

About the Book:

After Aggie Dunkirk’s career is unceremoniously ended by her own mistakes, she finds herself traveling to Wisconsin, where her grandmother, Mumsie, lives alone in her vintage, though very outdated, home. Aggie didn’t plan for how eccentric Mumsie has become, obsessing over an old, unsolved crime scene–even going so far as to re-create it in a dollhouse.

Mystery seems to follow Aggie when she finds work as a secretary helping to restore the flooded historical part of the town’s cemetery. Forced to work with a puzzling yet attractive archaeologist, she exhumes the past’s secrets and unwittingly uncovers a crime that some will go to any length to keep hidden–even if that means silencing Aggie.

In 1946, Imogene Grayson works in a beauty salon but has her sights set on Hollywood. But coming home to discover her younger sister’s body in the attic changes everything. Unfamiliar with the burgeoning world of forensic science and, as a woman, not particularly welcomed into the investigation, Imogene is nonetheless determined to stay involved. As her sister’s case grows cold, Imogene vows to find justice . . . no matter the cost.

My Review:

I am officially dubbing Jaime Jo Wright the queen of Christian mystery & suspense. She has quickly found herself on my must-read author list and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I’ve read each of her novels so far and I’ve come to that point in my reading relationship with her books that I trust that even though she may take the reader into dark/creepy territory, she won’t leave them there. She also makes sure that there is a faith-based take-away intricately woven in that manages to hit the reader at just the right moments. Her books are perfect to suggest to unbelievers because the faith isn’t preachy or in-your-face yet revealed in masterfully compelling ways to get one thinking.

This one didn’t take me long to get into at all, and it also wasn’t easy to put down. It was a bit different from the author’s other books in that I didn’t feel as “spooked out” as I was in the others, but I was still enraptured in the mystery. I was able to read it more successfully at night (as a few others concurred with on Facebook haha) which was another plus. The pages basically turned themselves in this one.

I admired how well the concept of “grief” was walked through from the eyes of multiple characters in a way that could also get the reader thinking about how they process and handle it themselves. The author created the perfect platform to introduce faith in a thought-provoking and healing way amidst the pain and heartache of life. There were several quotes that specifically stuck out to me simply for how much truth was contained in them. Personally, I don’t handle grief well. Everyone experiences grief differently, but in truth no one can truly escape it.

You go ahead and let the grief consume you, because then it will heal you, free you, and the good Lord can move into its place and show you promise. Promise that there is so much more life to live. So many more people to love. And the footprints of those who’ve gone before you? They’ll still be there. Memories to warm you when you’re old.

I loved this book on so many levels. Jaime Jo Wright is a master at what she does. How she is able to write the stories she does and successfully weave in faith in powerful and thought-provoking ways simply amazes me. I honestly don’t think I can recommend this book enough. Now I sit and wait impatiently for her next one to release.

*I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.

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