After recently divorced Rose McHugh leaves Sydney to start a new life in the Southern Highlands area, she finds a roll of film buried in her backyard. She has the film developed (I’m not sure many people would do that but she’s an historian and also nosy, which helps make her actions more believable), and discovers it includes photos of a woman who has been missing for six years.
As Rose continues to make enquiries, she soon finds herself on the trail of a murderer, and becomes the next target.
This is an easy-to-read cosy mystery. There are plenty of local references mentioned as the author nestles the story into the region. The story would benefit from losing stereotypes of the types of people to be found in certain villages but, overall, it’s a very readable novel.
Although there were red herrings sprinkled throughout the novel, I did guess the murderer early in the plot. That didn’t make it any less enjoyable to read Echo Lake, as I liked learning how Rose went about making friends in a new area. She is braver than I, though. I would never drive on Macquarie Pass at night!
Four stars from me. I look forward to reading the next novel in this series.
You can read more about Echo Lake on Goodreads.