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"Dead Letter Days"
by
Kelley Armstrong
It is part of the Haven's Rock #0.5 series and is a mystery thriller in a Kindle edition that was published by St. Martin's Press on February 20, 2023 and has 87 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Broken, Personal Demon , Living with the Dead, Men of the Otherworld, Tales of the Otherworld, Frostbitten, Dates from Hell, Exit Strategy, Made to Be Broken, The Reckoning, Spell Bound, The Gathering, The Awakening, "Hidden", The Calling, Aftertaste, Kisses from Hell, The Rising, Omens, Wild Justice, Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions, Visions, Deceptions, The Masked Truth, City of the Lost, Empire of Night, Forest of Ruin, Betrayals, A Darkness Absolute, Indigo, Rituals, The Unquiet Past, This Fallen Prey, Stolen, Rough Justice, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, Waking the Witch, Portents, Missing, Alone in the Wild, Watcher in the Woods, Otherworld Secrets, Wherever She Goes, "The Case of the Half-Demon Spy", "Escape", Otherworld Chills, A Stranger in Town, "Bargain", Hex on the Beach, "Recruit", "Checkmate", "Framed", Cursed Luck, High Jinx, Bitten, Driven, "Forsaken", The Deepest of Secrets, Men of the Otherworld, The Boy Who Cried Bear
A prequel, 0.5, in the Haven’s Rock mystery thriller series, and 7.5 in the overall Rockton/Casey Duncan series, and still revolving around Casey and Eric.
My Take
“Dead Letter Days” is a quick synopsis of the core characters with their particular interests in what Rockton 2.0 will accomplish, as a place of refuge for people who need to escape — “the husband whose next beating will be fatal”, the potentially deadly stalker, a person who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, one’s lousy life choices.
Casey and Eric are still hunting for the perfect site with Armstrong briefly addressing the illegality of their choice. “Dead Letter Days” introduces us to the planning stages — Casey is hoping to achieve seventy-five percent less murder!
I actually read this after reading Murder at Haven’s Rock, 1, and while it doesn’t make much of a difference which you read first, I would still read this one first.
Armstrong uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Eric’s perspective, and it’s both enlightening and sad as Eric discovers the reality of living in the real world. That old council really shafted him! The primary focus is on Eric resolving his childhood, his having been kidnapped as well as his parents’ back history and the horror of what Gene Dalton did.
Armstrong reminds us of April and Casey’s past and how they’re achieving a mutual understanding. I love that as a society we’re getting more realistic about not being perfect. We do still have a long way to go, though.
Just for the fun of it, Armstrong gives April a sense of humor and Casey a cold case when they find a message in a bottle. There’s a double story behind this last. “Dead Letter Days” also sets Eric up as a real person which makes it possible for them to get legally married.
Ooh, Eric reveals why he fell in love with Casey.
It’s interesting that Eric knows that having the bakery/coffeehouse is not a luxury, but a necessity. That Phil is so unrealistic! I did enjoy the others chiming in about other necessities like pets, the library, taco Tuesday, and movie night!
It’s letters that set Eric AND Casey off. Letters found that reveal so much. You’ll swear and curse Gene Dalton! His excuses . . . well, it will be interesting to see how Eric gets his revenge.
It’s a sweet event, that wedding, and their vows were original and original in the exchange, sort of ending with the official marshmallow roasting, lol.
It really isn’t fair. Casey can’t help all those dead bodies she stumbles across.
The Story
Eric, Casey and the others are living in a lodge in northern British Columbia, where a message in a bottle leads to a cold case that will have Eric finally grappling with his past and preparing to move into his future with Casey.
The Characters
Casey Duncan, a former homicide detective, has partnered up with Eric Dalton, the sheriff of Rockton. Storm is their Newfoundland “tracking” dog. April is Casey’s autistic sister who also happens to be a brilliant neurosurgeon (Watcher in the Woods, 4). The dyslexic Jacob is Eric’s brother who’s married to the pregnant Nicole, a former Rockton resident (A Darkness Absolute, 2). Amy (had a master’s in social work) and Steve (a former police officer) Mulligan are Jacob and Eric’s birth parents.
Will is Eric’s deputy with alcohol issues. Kenny had been the carpenter and militia head and had gone home to see family, leg braces and all. He’s in a relationship with April. Devon and Brian ran the bakery in the old Rockton and are the chief chefs in “Dead Letter Days”. Maryanne had been a biologist taken by hostiles (This Fallen Prey). Petra, former special ops, is a comic book artist and Émilie’s granddaughter. Mathias, a former psychiatrist, had been the town butcher; Raoul is Mathias’ half-wolf dog. Sebastian is a young sociopath who had killed his parents (Watcher in the Woods, 4). Isabel, a former psychologist, had run the former Rockton’s tavern and is in a relationship with Phil, a former spokesman for the council who got shafted, is a “number-crunching detail-obsessed town manager who insists he won’t be coming with them. Diana, Casey’s former best friend, is still around — April wants her to join them in Rockton 2.0, as she has an aptitude for “playing nurse”. Jen, a bully, has gone off with Ty Cypher, a former hitman and former Rockton sheriff, who stayed in the Yukon as a trapper.
Yolanda owns the construction company that will build Rockton 2.0. Eric can already tell Yolanda will be a pain to work with. She’s another of Émilie’s granddaughters, and Émilie, one of the original Rockton’s founders, is helping to bankroll the town and use her contacts to help Casey and Eric.
The Georges own the resort where the the team is staying. They have three children. A distant cousin, Robyn, runs women’s programs for them. Belinda is Robyn’s wife. Joni Mayfair had been a guest of the Georges some thirty years ago. Paul Mayfair had been her very abusive husband.
British Columbia uses the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police for law enforcement.
Katherine and Gene Dalton, the previous sheriff of Rockton and former army intelligence, had been Eric’s second set of parents.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a background of blues with a cloud of orange, as the silhouettes of Eric and Casey stand atop a cliff edge looking out over the mountains. The author’s name is bold in white at the very top while the title, in yellow, stair steps down the middle. At the bottom is the series info in a pale gray.
The title is the inciting incidents with “Dead Letter Days” exposing a cold case and the truth behind Eric’s kidnapping.
