The Only Child by Katye Nunn comes out 9/6. I'm not necessarily recommending it, but here's my review.
This book follows Frankie Gray, a detective returning to the Pacific Northwest to help her mother remodel Fairmile, a former home for 'fallen women,' into a boutique inn. A nun who worked at Fairmile when it was run by the Catholic Church dies under mysterious circumstances, and not long after, a tiny skeleton is discovered on the grounds of the house. Frankie's curiosity builds as events progress, and her story is interspersed with the experiences of a pregnant 16-year-old who was sent to Fairmile in 1949. What is the relationship between the events of the past and the current mysteries that all seem to connect to Fairmile? Can Frankie solve the case before anyone else is harmed?
I love a historical mystery, especially if there's a dual timeline involved. I enjoyed those aspects of this book. Both stories were engaging enough to keep me interested, though much of the plot was easily predictable. There were also a lot of elements that didn't need to be there: Frankie's backstory seemed important at first but was barely addressed, there were multiple references to a serial killer that was entirely irrelevant (though not significant enough to be a red herring), and the relationships between characters barely scratched the surface. Frankie's potential romance felt especially unnecessary. In the actual writing of the book, more things fell flat for me. The pacing was wacky: excessive exposition led to a rush at the end with a very anticlimactic ending. The dialogue was boring and stilted at times.
The overall premise of this book was good, and the mystery was decent. Overall, I enjoyed the historical timeline more than the present day. It was an interesting look at the effects of teenage pregnancy on young girls in an era when they didn't have access to resources.
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