Review by Booklist Review
For Cora, what begins as a treasure hunt at an estate sale evolves into her becoming embroiled in family secrets and the shadows of a past that still looms large over the sleepy midwestern town of Hickory Falls. Upon discovering two silver rings, Cora initially attempts to return them to their owners and is met with resistance, hinting at a buried secret connected to the original owner, Clarity, who vanished over 60 years ago. The novel shifts between two time lines, 1953 and the present day, revealing the complexities of Clarity's life before her disappearance and the enduring impact it had on the local community, especially her daughter, Hazel. Cora is also pressured by her fiancé's family, who have strong ties to the town, to abandon her quest, creating more mystery around who was involved in Clarity's disappearance. The cozy-mystery vibe of the story and the setting will be alluring to readers, and although some of the present-day story line seems superfluous, one can hope this is not the last we will hear from small-town sleuth Cora.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This slow-moving cozy from West (a pseudonym for Good Will author Tiffany Killoren) finds bride-to-be Cora stumbling on a decades-old mystery when she moves to the Midwest with her fiancé. With her future mother-in-law commandeering the wedding plans , Cora has plenty of free time to explore Hickory Falls, her new hometown. At an estate sale, she comes across a jar filled with colorful baubles and, on impulse, buys it. Amid the old marbles and buttons, Cora discovers a wedding ring, and in her quest to find out whose it was, she stirs up tensions among Hickory Falls' longtime residents. The ring may have belonged to Clarity Shaw, whose story unfolds in alternating chapters: in the early 1950s, Clarity disappeared from Hickory Falls, sparking rumors that she was a witch, and that she left her husband for a much richer man. Cora, unconvinced by the urban legends, grows obsessed with finding out what really happened to Clarity. Unfortunately, the baggy narrative doesn't reflect the intensity of Cora's obsession, burning too many pages on wedding planning and overly detailed exposition. Flat characters don't help matters. This misses the mark. Agent: Stephanie Hansen, Metamorphosis Literary. (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Cora is bored to death after she follows her fiancé to Hickory Falls, a small Midwestern town. She should be preparing for her wedding. Instead, she attends an estate sale where she buys a jar of buttons and baubles. At the bottom, she discovers a pair of rings, engagement and wedding. How would those end up in a jar of buttons? Cora sets out to find their owner, starting with the daughter from the estate sale. In the process, she stirs up secrets and memories from the early 1950s, when a married man left his wife for a beautiful artist, Clarity Grey. Even then, townspeople whispered that Clarity and the women in her family dabbled in mysterious practices. When Clarity disappeared from her front yard, leaving behind a six-year-old daughter, people certainly talked. But no one dug into the past until 2024, when Cora asks questions and researches the town's old gossip. Even 70 years later, it seems Cora is the only one interested in the truth. VERDICT Though it can be slow-moving and repetitive, this novel may interest readers who enjoy cold cases with dual timelines.--Lesa Holstine
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A jar full of trinkets leads a prospective bride to probe a decades-old mystery. Ever since she moved to the Midwest, Cora's had a lot of time on her hands. Her future husband, Elliott, insists they live apart, since his conservative family would be scandalized by premarital cohabitation. But he also says there's no point in her working, since once they're married, he'll support them both. Some brides would be busily occupied with wedding plans, but Elliott's mother seems to have that covered, with very little use for her future daughter-in-law's opinions on the matter. So, browsing estate sales seems like a good enough way for Cora to while away the hours. When she discovers a diamond ring and a wedding band in a jar of random items she buys for $5, she becomes obsessed with finding their rightful owner. Beverly, the woman who sold her the jar, has little interest in the rings, but she suggests that her sister Ruth might know something about it. But it's the third sister, Hazel, who opens the door to a startling series of revelations about her family, including the mysterious disappearance of her mother, who was her father's second wife. West's portrayal of the sisters is often heavy-handed in contrast to her descriptions of Cora, who seems vague and unmoored, with no profession, precious little family, and zero insight into her relationship with her boorish fiance. The mystery of the rings' ownership gets solved, but Cora remains an enigma even to herself. A small-town drama that packs an equally modest punch. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
