I love a police procedural! And I love Maine. Here’s my Review of Granite Harbor, a book about a police detective trying to catch a creepy, wily killer. Will you like it? Let’s find out!
Jen’s Quick Take on Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols
- Police procedural with an atypical main character
- Great small-town Maine setting
- Some animal death, abuse and bullying content that may not be for every reader
- Also a series of ritualistic serial murderers that were on the gory/creepy side
Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols
Published on April 30, 2024 by Celadon Books. Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for review. I read this book in April 2024.
Review of Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols
As I try to be as helpful as I can in my reviews, I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences between books in the mystery/suspense/thriller category, and how subcategory is different.
I think that my favorite type of book is a mystery. I love the challenge of solving the puzzle.
Granite Harbor was a classic police procedural.
This is detective Alex Brangwen’s first murder case. He’s a single father of a teenage daughter who became a police officer later in life. It was the only job he could get after his homesick former wife dragged him and their baby daughter from England to America and stuck him in a small town with few job prospects for a former novelist.
The victim is a classmate of his daughter, which adds a level of pressure and anxiety for him. And in a small town where everyone knows everyone, a murder is personal to all.
I don’t do full content warnings but try to point out disturbing content that involves children or animals. As I mentioned in my Quick Take, there is some animal content that could be distressing for some readers. In addition, this is a third-person narrative that includes the killer’s POV. That person has a very sad background that includes bullying and child abuse. If this had been earlier in the book, I might have stopped reading, but I was invested at that point.
That aside, I thought this was an excellent mystery, with plenty of clues to mull over and a pretty thrilling conclusion. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for future mysteries by Peter Nichols.
This reminded me a little of the work of Hannah Morrissey, who wrote Hello Transcriber and When I’m Dead. Both of them had a dark tone and took place in a small town with a small police department.