Chasing the Case by Joan Livingston

Val Penny ♦ May 30, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

It is always lovely to come across a new author whose work you enjoy, so when I recently bought Chasing the Case by Joan Livingston, I knew it was a crime thriller, my favourite genre, but I was not familiar with this author’s work. However, I was not disappointed, Chasing the Case is an excellent book: better yet, it is the first of a series, so I am in at the beginning.

The main protagonist is a widow, Isabel Long, who has lost her job as a newspaper editor and is living with her 92 year-old mother in a small town. In addition to that, her social security payments are nearing their end. But this lady is very resourceful.

She decides to investigate the disappearance of, Adela Collins, a woman from the town: but it happened 28 years ago. Isabel’s fiesty little mother is her wingman and they make for an amusing pairing. It is difficult for an author to combine humour with mystery, but this author mananges it extremely well.

When Isabel notices a job being adertised in the local pub, she goes for it and, as the job is only part-time, she still has time to investigate Adela’s disppearance. Working in the pub gives Isabel the opportunity to talk to those who knew Adela at the time of her disappearance and she also gets to know some people better than she did previously.

Chasing the Case offers a delightful view of small town life, in a humorous and exciting way. It would be an excellent novel for a book group. I enjoyed it so much that I read it in two sittings. I highly recommend Chasing the Case and am already looking forward to the next Isabel Long book.

Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers. Chasing the Case, published by Crooked Cat Books, is her first mystery and the first in a series featuring Isabel Long, a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I.

An award-winning journalist, she started as a reporter covering the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. She was an editor, columnist, and most recently the managing editor of The Taos News, which won numerous state and national awards during her tenure.

After eleven years in Northern New Mexico, she returned to rural Western Massachusetts, which is the setting of much of her adult fiction, including Chasing the Case and its sequels.

Val Penny