Review: Death in the Haunted Wood by Kim Griswell

Death in the Haunted Wood (Pacific Northwest Cozy Mysteries #2)
by Kim Griswell

My Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Writer Saffi Graywood thinks a quick road trip to help a friend will be the perfect break from her looming manuscript deadline. But her autumn getaway takes a chilling turn when aging horror star Malcolm Morton reveals he’s been receiving threatening vintage postcards—and his groundskeeper has just turned up dead beneath the dock.

Malcolm’s grand reopening of a forgotten theme park known as “The Haunted Wood” should be his triumphant comeback. Instead, Saffi finds herself surrounded by towering evergreens, eerie movie props and a colorful cast of suspects that includes a local sheriff with his own agenda.

As jack-o’-lanterns grin from every corner and costumed guests arrive for the Halloween Spooktacular, Saffi must piece together clues over steaming cups of spiced chai. With each vintage postcard’s threat growing more sinister and the October mist concealing deadly secrets, she races to unmask the truth before the killer’s final trick claims another victim. Can Saffi solve the mystery lurking behind small-town friendly faces? Or will her sleuthing turn this fall season into her last?

Death in the Haunted Wood is the second in the captivating Pacific Northwest Cozy Mystery series. Perfect for fans of Lauren Elliott, Merryn Allingham, Debbie Macomber and readers who love their cozy mysteries served with breathtaking scenery, quirky characters and just enough romance to warm a chilly autumn night.

My Review

I received a copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

After reading the first book in this series I was eager to continue it. I wanted to spend more time in Last Chance Cove with these characters and I was curious how Saffi’s park manager job was working out. So imagine my surprise when I realized this book changed things up and brought Saffi to the road again and to another RV park for this book’s mystery. I liked actually seeing a bit of Saffi’s life on the road and her traveling with her RV, but I also struggled with the change as this meant a new setting and a whole new cast of characters.

The mystery in this book centers around Glenn’s friend Malcolm, an older Hollywood actor of horror movies, he’s opening a haunted theme park in the woods and is getting threatening postcards. He asks Saffi for help and she goes to help him due to guilt she feels over something in book, to me it didn’t feel as strong as an motive to get involved as in book 1. Then Malcolm’s groundskeeper is found death and murder is added to the mix. Most of this book actually focuses on Saffi trying to figure out who is behind the threatening postcards and trying to uncover the culprit before the big Halloween opening of the park.

The mystery felt a bit slow to start, but it was a solid one. I liked the way things got wrapped up at the end, although I would’ve liked a bit more time to have everything wrap up. I was a bit surprised at a certain twist regarding the park and while I liked it, it just felt like it came a bit sudden after the way the actor handled things earlier in the book.

I admit I wasn’t a fan of Malcolm as a character and the actor/ movie theme. I kept wondering whether the moves referenced were real or fictional as I don’t know a lot about movies and just felt like I was missing a bit of information. This book has some Halloween vibes with the spooky theme park and the Halloween opening with everyone in costume. I would’ve liked to see more of the theme park as now besides the scary trail, the museum, the teashop and the RV park there wasn’t as much about the park. It just didn’t fully come alive and I wanted more about the setting too.

I struggled with the shift in location especially as I was in a series mood and wanted to read more about the place and characters I knew and this book didn’t really have that. I did like some of the new characters like the granddaughter and grandfather who work at the tea shop. I also liked some mentions of Saffi’s friends later on in the story. There also is a new possible romance and I just felt confused by it all after Saffi’s growing connection with Troy in book 1 and in this book he isn’t mentioned much and she gets close to someone else. It just didn’t quite work for me.

I did like reading more about saffi, she’s determined to figure things out. It also was fun how she has someone to work together with when it comes to investigating in this book, but it just felt a bit odd with the romantic undertones there. The ending of this book implies she goes back to Last Chance Cove again in the next book and I am just a bit confused by it all as by then I had thought maybe each book would have a different location, but I am not sure at this point.

To summarize: I enjoyed the first book in this series and was eager to return to Last Chance Cove and the characters there, but instead this book switched things up with a new location and new characters. I struggled a bit with the change and there’s even a new potential romance and I was confused by this after Saffi was growing closer to Troy in the first book and was now flirting with someone else. The mystery was a solid one and I liked seeing things play out and Saffi’s determination to figure it out. There were some interesting reveals at the end, although I had predicted a certain type of twist again as that was similar to book 1. Sadly this one didn’t hook me as much as the first book, but there were still some good parts and this one has some Halloween vibes too if you’re looking for a Halloween cozie.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.