The Evidence Room
A Mystery
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This atmospheric and beautifully written police procedural is set in Florida where a murder of a young mother shook a small bayou town to its core. Twenty years later, the victim's daughter returns to the scene of the crime and learns that the tragedy of her past has very real consequences for her future.
Everyone in Cooper's Bayou knows the story of Raylene Atchison, the local woman who was murdered on the banks of the bayou, and her daughter, Aurora, who was found on the steps of the mini-mart, alone. But when Aurora, who was raised far away from Cooper's Bayou, returns to Florida to settle her grandfather's estate, she learns that the suspect in her mother's murder was wrongly accused. Aurora meets Josh Hudson, a cop who has been put on administrative leave at the Evidence Room, a warehouse of dusty and forgotten items that could hold the key for solving Raylene's murder. Together, Josh and Aurora delve into the past and find that the answers they are seeking lie just below the surface of the bayou they thought they knew.
Spanning decades of secrets and lies and featuring a setting that comes alive as a character in its own right, Cameron Harvey's THE EVIDENCE ROOM is a stunning debut mystery from a new literary talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Aurora Atchison, the heroine of Harvey's predictable first novel, was found at age four on the steps of the minimart in Cooper's Bayou, Fla., in the early morning of July 17, 1989. When the strangled body of her mother turned up soon after in a nearby bayou, everyone assumed that Aurora's father killed his wife and disappeared. Aurora later left with her mother's parents to start a new life in Connecticut. Now a nurse, Aurora returns to Cooper's Bayou to settle her grandfather's estate. Treated like royalty by townspeople who all seem to have revered her mother, Aurora befriends Det. Josh Hudson, whose childhood is equally marred by tragedy (his younger brother disappeared, the apparent victim of a serial killer; his older sister ran away at 18). Seeking answers related to her mother's murder, Aurora becomes aware that the case is not as cut-and-dried as it appears. As her investigation gathers steam, sleazy Floridian characters emerge from the swamp to block her way. But with a less than original premise and a lead who's frustratingly weak-willed, this mystery fizzles.
Customer Reviews
The Evidence Room
Terrific read. Tightly written. A real page turner.
Best new crime book of 2015
I was blown away by this new mystery from first-time author Cameron Harvey. This book is so well-written it's hard to believe it's her debut novel. Set in the Florida bayou country, the plot features two likable and realistic leads. Aurora Atchison is an ER nurse from Connecticut, returning to her childhood home of Cooper's Bayou to wrap up her grandfather's estate. Josh Hudson is a local police detective, who becomes professionally and personally involved with Aurora after her life is threatened. Both of them have devastating secrets in their pasts that bring them together as they search "the evidence room" in their race against time to stop the killer.
The plot is suspenseful with plenty of action, but what really makes this book stand out is the author's strong sense of place and the small details that make every scene come alive. From the lovingly-tended old house on the edge of the water that Aurora inherits, to the colorful small-town life she encounters in Coopers Bayou, every description sounds completely authentic. You'll wish you were living in bayou country by the end of the story. Who could resist Aurora's grandfather's part-time job as "the alligator nuisance man," the guy you call when an alligator wanders into your house? The Pig Squealer Barbecue? Baboon Jack's kiddieland with its "sparkle pony" ride? Ti Bon Ange cemetery, only reachable by boat because the bayou's rising waters are slowly submerging the graves? The evidence room itself, a dilapidated warehouse surrounded by trees dripping Spanish moss, filled with row after row of metal shelving crammed with crumbling cardboard boxes, like a haunted Costco?
If this book is any indication, Cameron Harvey has a bright literary future ahead of her. Read "The Evidence Room" to discover this outstanding new voice in crime fiction.