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Reviewed by Priya Mathew for Readers' Favorite
Artemis Taylor’s Strange Inheritance at River’s Edge opens with a break-in at the River’s Edge Magic Emporium. The building is so unsettling that locals cross to the other side of the street rather than pass too close to it. The shop has stayed closed for over a year since its owner, Iris White, vanished and was eventually declared legally dead. This triggers a trust that names Sergeant First Class Rebecca Whitmore, or Becky, as the sole beneficiary. The building is hers. So is the safe behind the family photograph. Inside the safe is a shoebox. And inside the shoebox, along with newspaper clippings and photographs, is a ledger full of numbers. It was something that Iris and her friends, the Lucky Seven, built quietly over three decades. It has now become something that a family in St. Louis has hired lawyers to get, and something that others are trying to find by less official means.
Artemis Taylor has written Strange Inheritance at River’s Edge with the ease of someone who has lived in a river town. The plot is tightly layered. The Lucky Seven mystery, the Chicago Connection, Rose Donnelly’s family circling for a legal fight, and even Rebecca’s own grief are all put together without it feeling forced. And then there is Jake Laramie, the police chief, who was once the man Rebecca was going to marry. Scenes between them walk the line between professional duty and old hurt without tipping into melodrama. Rebecca is at the heart of this story, and she has been carefully crafted. I loved the gift of community, especially in the women around Rebecca. They all have their own histories, losses, opinions, and sharp edges. Boone the Labrador and Kat the cat, who seem to belong to the building rather than any person, deserve their own mention. There is also a supernatural element integrated into the book with a sure hand. The Emporium does things it should not be able to do. Taylor never explains it, and I’m not sure if it will be part of the next book in the series. But in this book, it’s just part of the building’s character. Strange Inheritance at River’s Edge is for people who know that the things we didn’t ask to inherit are sometimes the things that finally bring us home.
