The Morrow-Mercer Mysteries: Book 1
Publication Date: November 9, 2024
On a cold December day in a northern countryside, a strange woman appears on the doorstep of the farmhouse Hugh Mercer is renting, warning him that a local named Elizabeth Goode is about to vanish under mysterious circumstances. Despite her ominous pleas for help, the former NYPD detective remains too preoccupied with the past he’s trying to escape back home in America and his affair with local police officer Alice Morrow. So, he simply dismisses the woman’s dire prediction.
But soon this strange woman’s desperate concerns become reality – and Mercer begins to realize that there is more to the seemingly ordinary Alice and the easy-going northern town she’s from. As Mercer and Alice work together to unravel this crime, they discover the dark history of all those involved and the desperation of those seeking revenge when forgiveness is not possible.
With his detective career and marriage in flames, Hugh Mercer leaves New York and heads to an isolated spot in Canada, where he is pulled into a strange investigation.
Author Shane Peacock amps up the suspense in As We Forgive Others. The title is appropriate, given Mercer’s current situation. Even though he hooks up with a local woman, their encounters are somewhat superficial. His observation that the townspeople seem without regular emotions is quite interesting.
To compound matters, he is asked by a strange woman to investigate the disappearance of a local woman, but there is a twist. He and his sleeping buddy team up to find answers, but the question is whether they will connect the dots in time to save her.
While it is a bit of a slow burn, the author carefully puts the foundation in place for the story to develop. Mercer’s abilities are well suited for this sort of investigation, which gives him a shot at redemption.
As We Forgive Others delivers an intriguing police procedural packed with depth.
Shane Peacock is an author published in twenty languages in eighteen countries. He has won the Junior Library Guild of America Selection seven times, the Arthur Ellis Award twice, and been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. His young adult novels include the Boy Sherlock Holmes series, the Dylan Maples Adventures, The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim trilogy, and The Book of Us. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario with his wife, journalist Sophie Kneisel.
