Echoes Among the Stones

I had a harder time getting into this book that Wright's previous novels. It took about 50 pages to finally grab me enough that I couldn't put it down. But then it was good and I got involved in the questions of how and why poor Hazel had been murdered.

Aggie and Collin were a really enjoyable lead couple, though honestly I wanted more screen time between the two of them. I didn't understand why Mumsie had to be to bitter toward her granddaughter and many of those scenes were very hard to read. No wonder she was lonely and alone, if she was going to be that ill-tempered with her granddaughter. And sadly it made me doubt the reality of her faith; no wonder why Aggie had a bit of a skeptic's view. Not to say that's not realistic, but having known a few too many embittered seniors, it was hard to read past. It also made it harder to feel empathy for her troubles because she'd brought many of them on herself.

I would have liked to know more about Aggie's mother/Mumsie's daughter. There was almost nothing about her but I felt I would have connected with both characters better if I'd have known more about the relative that connected them to each other.

Otherwise, a great mystery to figure out, with post-WW2 stress and land loss and bombings all mixed up with the murder. And is Hazel really the only murder victim in the too-quiet town?

Content: murder, one profane term