In an interesting plot line Emily Arsenault (The Broken Teaglass) invites readers to know Nora and Charlotte, her female protagonists as 11-year-olds and as adults. The author segues easily between time frames, 1990 and 2006, to give us an absorbing psychological mystery.
It is the voice of Nora that we hear. As 11-year-olds Charlotte and Nora live in Waverly, Connecticut. They were the best of friends who spent untold hours with their 16-year-old baby sitter, Rose. The girls spent most of their time examining a trove of old books dealing with the paranormal, boring the beautiful Rose, “with the dirty-blond hair and even dirtier mouth - practically to death.”
But then after walking Nora home one November day Rose abruptly disappeared. About a week later at the behest of Charlotte the girls tried to discover what happened to Rose through divination, which only ended in frustration and anger.
Some 16 years later Rose’s remains are found, evidently she had been murdered. Nora receives a call from Charlotte asking her to return to Waverly, insisting that she do so. The case of Rose’s disappearance has been reopened. When Nora returns she reconnects with old friends, many of whom have questions or have kept secrets about Rose.
Carefully crafted, psychologically complex and well written In Search of the Rose Notes will keep readers turning pages until a surprising denouement.
- Enjoy.
- Gail Cooke
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