Book Review: Well-Offed in Vermont

I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

In bucolic small-town Vermont, Stella Thornton Buckley feels out of her element—and not just because she's fresh from Manhattan. Mere hours after moving to maple syrup country, she and her husband, Nick, find a dead man, Allen Weston, in their well. The police investigation forces the couple out of their lovely farmhouse and—since the motels are packed with leafpeepers—into a less than luxurius deer camp. Instead of mourning the loss of electricity and running water, Stella and Nick drive their Smart Car all over the Vermont hamlet to question the quirky locals about Weston, a shrewd businessman who rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way. Stella and Nick may never shed their flatlander reputation, but they just might be able to make a few friends and help Sheriff Mills solve a murder. (Goodreads synopsis)

I’m not sure where I want to even begin with this novel. It started with a lot of promise and then little things made it less enjoyable as I read on.

Things I liked: the plot/mystery, the location, and Stella. Honestly, the murder made a ton of sense. The solution did as well. Everyone knows someone who is charmingly smarmy but turns out to be a worldclass jerk. Just like everyone knows someone who wants to kill said jerk. I felt the mystery made the novel a quick read as I wanted to know exactly who did it and why. I even liked the idea of a husband and wife sleuthing duo, because it was unique compared to other cozy mysteries. However, I only liked half of the duo. I thought Stella was intuitive and asked some great questions. I even thought her explanations were great as well as her empathy towards certain individuals.

While I have never been to Vermont, it is on my bucket list of places to visit. I did not understand how Nick and Stella bought their house without knowing some of the basics, like where their cell phones did and did not work, or how small towns operate. I love to hike and I love mountain sceneries instead of ocean beaches, so I think I would have been very at home here. After living in one small town, this one doesn’t seem too bad.

Things I did not like: Nick, the townspeople, and how the ending came about. While I liked the sleuthing duo, I’m afraid Nick was too much for me. There were points where I left he was condescending towards Stella, that he brushed off the seriosuness of the situation, and that he was very judgemental towards the townspeople. Nick felt more like a “Jersey/New York” personality than he did a Forestry employee. I would think if you works for the Forestry department, he would ahve come into contact with individuals who were “redneck”, but Nick almost always seemed surprised or disgruntled by the townspeoples’ behaviors.

The townspeople were also a problem for me. I felt some of the individuals were played up as naive or plain nuts. I also disliked the comment about Nick and Stella and their future children and grandchildren always being considered outsiders until the fourth generation had lived in the town. I have been on the receiving end of those comments, and they are decidedly bigot considering how the locals don’t participate much with their community versus the “flatlanders” who just moved in.

Finally, the ending was kind of ridiculous. I will never understand why authors think readers want to see the amatuer in a potentially dangerous situation. I would much rather see a commonsense individual say, “hey I solved this. Now to inform the proper authorities,” instead of them trying to capture the murderer themselves. With that said, I was confused as to why the duo went to where they did, especially when they said they were trying to reach the police before they ever left.

Overall I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars. Despite this rating, I am gonna continue to follow Amy Patricia Meade because I think she has some great potential. Plus I want to see where Stella goes from this experience.