The Night Woods by Paula Munier

The Night Woods
by Paula Munier

ISBN-13: 9781250887917
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Released: October 8, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Record snow and sleet and rain are pummeling Vermont and a wild boar has escaped from an exclusive hunting club nearby—but that won’t stop a very pregnant and very bored Mercy Carr from hiking her beloved woods with her loyal dog Elvis. She’s supposed to be decorating the nursery and helping her mother plan the baby shower, but she’d much rather be playing Scrabble with Homer Grant, a word-loving, shotgun-toting hermit living deep in the forest. But when she and Elvis drop by Homer’s cabin for their weekly game, they arrive to find an unknown dead man—and no sign of Homer.

As they search the woods, Mercy discovers a patch of devastation that could only be left behind by wild boar. She’s relieved when Elvis tracks Homer, injured but alive. But Homer’s troubles are far from over, as he’s still the number one suspect and he remembers nothing of the attack. When another corpse with a link to Homer is found, Mercy is determined to help her friend, an effort complicated by the unexpected arrival of her young cousin Tandie, sent by Mercy’s mother to keep an eye on her until the baby is born.

As the floods worsen, Troy and Susie Bear are called out with all the other first responders, and Mercy finds herself alone at Grackle Tree Farm with a concussed Homer, Tandie, and Elvis. As waters rise and the wild boar rampages, Mercy realizes that the murderer is out there ready to strike again, this time much closer to home.


My Review:
The Night Woods is a mystery/suspense novel. It's the 6th 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) tracked down clues, asked good questions, and pieced together what was going on. The suspense was create by Mercy getting into dangerous situations while near the end of her pregnancy. I felt like more focus was put on Mercy's upcoming childbirth than actually solving the mysteries. She spent time collecting information about seemingly unconnected events (a missing man who was a part of exclusive hunting club for rich business people, a Greek classics professor found dead in the cabin of a man suffering from PTSD, etc.). Then, after a little thought at the end, Mercy suddenly figured out who did what and how people were connected.

There were only a few uses of bad language. 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.