Title: Secrets of a Vintage Vendetta
Author: Cassidy Harlow
Date: 2023
Publisher: Cassidy Harlow
Quote: "This place hasn't been opened in decades, alright."
Lucy and Brandy think they're describing the building they've bought to use as an antique store, but they're also describing the town of fictional Ellijay, Georgia. Trigger warnings: this is a novel about sexual abuse in the workplace.
This novel really needs a disclaimer, because there is a real town called Ellijay (population, according to Google this week, 1847) and a real family there are called Harrington. It would have been very imprudent to publish a book where a Harrington family owned the town of Ellijay and used their social status to conceal the crimes of an influential member of the family, without such a disclaimer, if the real Harringtons had not agreed to let their name be used for fictional characters in a work of fiction. So I'll work from the assumption that they have.
In the novel, then, the housemates find a note that they think was written by the last occupant of the house, saying "He is going to kill me." When they take the note to the police to ask whether it meant anything, they're told that the last occupant of the house was certified insane because of her obsession with her supevisor at work, and left town suddenly just before she would have been hospitalized. But one police detective, who seems to Brandy to be interested in Lucy, tells them his sister was harassed and abused by the same man--Judge Harrington--and he wants to investigate the case.
No points for guessing that Judge Harrington will be found guilty; the pleasure of the story is in finding out how his guilt can be proved. For those who don't find it too upsetting, I should add, the pleasure is considerable. Though short, the story is told with a sly, dry humor that will leave you eager to see what Harlow will do in a full-length novel, and if you enjoy watching detectives close in on a thoroughly deserving criminal you'll enjoy this short novel.
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