Misty fall weather should make for an idyllic walk in the New England woods and a needed respite from Reverend Wanda Duff's duties. She'll just take a stroll with her dog, breathe in the cool air, and remember that she loves her job and doesn't really long for a life of solitude, even when the quiet red-and-gold patch of forest tempts her with it.

But she should've known she couldn't really catch a break.

She only saw his hand-cold, palm up. In the twilight, everything else was indistinct. And even as Wanda said a prayer for the dead man and called for help, she couldn't shake the feeling of another presence, one that would compel her to follow a path out of these woods to find a killer.

But ever since Wanda and her friend Rye solved a murder together, no one has wanted the reverend to take on anything more dangerous than choir practice. She has no choice, really, but to carry the news of her discovery directly to no-nonsense Assistant Principal Rye, who understands because her own life was upended by last summer's investigation. Rye's own life is upended, period.

Unfortunately, solving the murder of drama teacher Jonathan Thorne isn't an undertaking Wanda and Rye can accomplish without involving their ever-widening circle of family and friends, which means that in addition to investigating, they have to resolve a few personal problems of their own. The truth is, nothing happens in a quaint New England town without everyone noticing. Without everyone speculating. Without everyone talking.

Without everyone knowing a killer is among them.

Wry humor, twisty sleuthing, and what Jane Willan (author of the Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mysteries) calls "punchy writing" and "fall-in-love-with-me characters" in "the enjoyable setting of a newsy small town" come together to make Death in the Woods a perfect one-sitting read.

Death in the Woods - pokkari, Englanti, 2023