Come Helen High Water audiobook

COME HELEN HIGH WATER was my first book by author Susan McBride, but the fourth in the River Road Mysteries series, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Happily, I didn’t feel lost at all. I quickly got to know to all of the small town characters, flaws, quirks, and all. I was pulled in for a ride on an emotional rollercoaster. There were so many things happening in this story. A missing person, murder (?), rising flood waters, the subject of Alzheimers. So much packed into one tale, that I’m not sure which storyline intrigued me the most.With so much going on, I wasn’t sure how it would end. I had so many questions. However, author McBride did a great job pulling everything together for a satisfying conclusion.

Come Helen High WaterSusan McBrideHarperCollins ; June 2017 The skies above the hamlet of River Bend, Illinois (population 200) were gray and cloudy; the water from the overflowing creeks covered the streets and threatened homes and businesses. For Luann Dupree, however, the world never looked brighter. The fifty-two year old spinster had never found love, had never had a real adventure, but that was about to change. The fellow she’d met online might not be Mr. Right, but he was surely Mr. Maybe. She told her best friend Sarah Biddle, the sheriff’s wife, that she was finally meeting him face-to-face, and disregarded Sarah’s concerns. They were meeting in public, no worries. The next morning, Luann was nowhere to be found. The town mayor told the volunteers at the Historical Society Museum told them that the director, Luann Dupree, had sent him an e-mail resignation, effective immediately. It was very unlike the sober, responsible, woman, but most everybody in town put it down to middle-aged crazies. Sarah Biddle, though, was having none of it. She insisted that foul play was involved. She convinced her friend Helen Evans to help find Luann. Helen reluctantly agreed. She, too doubted Sarah’s theory, but she did have a reputation as a puzzle-solver. The sheriff saw her as the town’s own Miss Marple, and didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing. At the same time, Bernie Winston, an elderly man with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, was found dead in the rising river water. Some saw it as a blessed relief for his wife Clara. She was in danger of collapsing from all the strain and toil of caring for him. Others weren't sure. As the flood waters slowly receded, long-lost secrets were uncovered, old sins disclosed, and false identities revealed. Helen and her stalwart band of cohorts once again figured it all out and tied up all the loose ends with a bow. This is the fourth book in Ms. McBride’s latest series, the River Road Mysteries. The award-winning author can do no wrong in this and her other series and standalones. The characters in this close-knit town are three-dimensional, coming alive on the page. The intertwined mysteries are skillfully plotted, and small-town life is described in realistic and believable detail. All fans of this author will be, as always, delighted with Come Helen and High Water. Those who are new to her writing will become instant followers of this talented author.

The first I’ve read in this series, I got to know several of the townspeople throughout the story: a small Illinois town on the Mississippi that is home to 200 people. Most elderly and all very active. Starting with Luann, the director of the town’s historical society, she’s now feeling a loss of ‘something’ and through an on-line site has met her Mr. Maybe. She’s soon disappeared, and is only texting her best friend Sarah and sheriff’s wife, that she’s overjoyed, and has given up her job, apartment and any interest in staying around. Totally out of character, but at first, Sarah is the only one who thinks it’s wholly wrong. Then there is Bernie and his wife Betty and sister-in-law Clara. Here is where real life invades the story with great poignancy and heart: Bernie is in the end stages of Alzheimer’s, and while Betty is caring for him at home, the ramifications for her and her family are great. While Clara is spending more time with Betty than at her own home, the care and management of this poor chap are really down to his wife, who he has passed the point of recognizing. In the middle of this all, and something of a Miss Marple in her own right is Helen, Clara’s best friend, widowed with a pushy and quite demanding cat, crossword puzzle addict and, it seems, in the middle of all the town’s goings-on. With Luann disappeared and a new director hired in her place who has managed to push all the volunteers out, no one listening seriously to Sarah’s concerns, and the spring flood causing evacuations near the harbor and everyone watching the water levels: there are more than a few elements in play. Add in some ‘mysterious big discovery’ made by Luann before her disappearance, Bernie wandering away twice, only to return reasonably unharmed once, a con-man setting his sights on the elderly man again after successful scams run previously and some mysterious clues popping up as Sarah digs deeper – there are multiple little mysteries woven into the larger questions about Luann’s disappearance. A wonderful story that I read in one sitting, and now feel that I have reasons to return and revisit with Helen and the group at River Bend. I’m sure that those who knew and already found friends among the characters in town will find this story to be as engaging and intriguing as I did, with plenty of little questions answered as the plot rolled on to present the villain, the solution and the difficult choices that were made. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility. Review first appeared at I am, Indeed

My first title in this series, and I will definitely read more by this author.

Mysteries in flooded river townVery enjoyable mystery with Helen Evans solving the town's mysteries in a Murder she Wrote style. You get to know the town's residents as friends. This particular episode features some tough Alzheimer's issues as well as a mystery of the disappearing museum curator.

3 1/2 stars. Good cozy mystery on River Road. Not as good as the first three but still looking forward to the next installment in the series.