Home at Night by Paula Munier

Home at Night
by Paula Munier

ISBN-13: 9781250887894
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Released: October 17, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
It’s Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two dogs, and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr’s small cabin. She needs more room―and Grackle Tree Farm, with thirty acres of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor, has finally come up for sell. They say it’s haunted by the ghost of a mother searching for her missing child, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in the library.

There’s something about Grackle Tree Farm that people are willing to kill for―and Mercy needs to figure out what before they move in. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden treasure that may be worth a fortune―if it’s real. She and Captain Thrasher conduct a search of the old place―and end up at the wrong end of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take him down before he murders them all. Under fire, she and Elvis manage to run the guy off, but not before they are wounded, leaving Thrasher fighting for his life in the hospital, Mercy on crutches, and Elvis on the mend.

Now it’s up to Mercy and Troy and the dogs to track down the masked murderer in a county overflowing with leaf peepers, Halloween revelers, and treasure hunters and bring him to justice before he strikes again and the treasure is lost forever, along with the good name of Grackle Tree Farm….


My Review:
Home at Night is a mystery/suspense novel. It's the 5th book in a series. You don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one, and this novel didn't spoil the whodunit of the previous novels.

The characters were engaging, complex, and acted in realistic ways. Mercy and her talented service dog and U.S. Game Warden Troy Warner and his search and rescue dog tracked down clues, asked good questions, and pieced together what was going on. The suspense remained high as someone--or maybe more than one person--was attacking and killing people as Mercy looked for a possible, hidden literary treasure that would be worth much and reveal secrets.

There was no to occasional use of bad language (I didn't keep track this time, but I do know it was minimal). There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this novel to people who enjoy canine mysteries and suspense.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.