The Secrets of Still Water Chasm by Patricia Crisafulli
Trade paperback, $19.95, 220 pages
Librarians these days have to deal with many challenges- budget cuts, crumbling buildings, people who want to ban books, governments passing laws that are unrealistic (and unconstitutional) among them. Ohnita Harbor librarian Gabriela Domenici has to deal with even more dangerous situations in Patricia Crisafulli's second book in her Ohnita Harbor Mysteries series, The Secrets of Still Waters Chasm.
In the first book in the series, The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor, Gabriela discovered a dead body and was nearly killed by the head of the library board of directors as he tried to steal a valuable relic donated to the library.
In the new book, Gabriela understandably suffers from anxiety from her near-death experience. When she and her boyfriend Daniel are out hiking a trail in the nearby Still Waters Chasm in the Adirondack Mountains, they come across some huge construction vehicles but no one around. It looks like the trucks may be drilling deep underground on the public land, but for what reason?
On their way out of the park, they stumble upon a man and a woman and an overturned canoe. The woman is dead, and while they attempt CPR on the man, he appears dead as well. With foam coming out of their mouths, could they have eaten something poisonous?
Gabriela and Daniel move around to try and get a cell phone signal and call the police. When the police arrive and Gabriela and Daniel take them to the bodies, the bodies and the kayak are gone.
So now Gabriela is involved in another mystery. She also attempts to help Wendy, a young woman who inherited an antique drawing of what appears to be some type of early sail. The young woman wants to sell the antique to get away from an abusive boyfriend, and Gabriela, a research expert, promises to help her discover the worth of her drawing.
She also befriends Lucinda, an herbalist with an expertise in plants and their healing properties. There are people in town who do not like Lucinda, they call her a witch and believe she poisons people.
Daniel is unhappy that Gabriela is getting involved with people and situations that could be trouble for her. She is still fragile from her last experience.
Crisafulli based Ohnita Harbor on the city of Oswego in Central New York, a place where I attended college, and anyone who lives in the area will recognize the castle library where Gabriela works. I like how she works in interesting topics- fracking, inventor Robert Fulton, library politics- that enlighten the reader.
I enjoyed getting reacquainted with characters from the first book, like Gabriela's fiesty Italian mom Agnese and the staff of the library, but you need not have read the first book to enjoy this one. The mystery kept me turning the pages and I admit to holding my breath at the end.
Crisafulli's The Secrets of Still Water Chasm is a fast-paced mystery that elevates the genre with great characters and a fascinating setting. I'm looking forward to a third book in the series.
Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Patricia Crisafulli's tour. The rest of tour can be found here:
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