A Murder in Zion by Nicole Maggi Book Review

About the Book:

Grief-stricken over her mother’ s death and bruised by her failure on her most recent case, Special Agent Emmeline Helliwell with the National Park Service returns to her Utah hometown to heal and regroup. She’ s determined to turn in her badge and take over her mother’ s bakery for a much quieter life . . . until the body of a childhood friend turns up in The Narrows of Zion National Park.

The case is too personal for Emme to turn down, but the seemingly simple investigation turns treacherous as clues that connect to her previous case grow too glaring to ignore. When bodies start to pile up, Emme must track down the killer before they take more lives, venturing deep into Zion National Park to uncover the sordid secrets hiding beneath its stunning beauty.

My Review:

Two aspects of this novel came to the forefront for me. First was the setting. I have not been to Zion so I really appreciated the good descriptive passages. I could almost feel my own feet being wet as the characters hiked The Narrows. The descriptions of the walls and other parts of the park, all of it was very good.

The other aspect was the lead character, Emme. She is a complex person with a great deal going on. She is under much emotional pressure, some stemming from a previous deadly event involving her job. Much of the novel centers around Emme and her inner struggles. I had a hard time liking her, especially when it came to how she treated her sister. I was glad to see there was finally character growth on her part.

One aspect of the novel I did not get excited about was the end times militant religious cult. I think that particular villain plot point has been way overworked in the last many years. I did like how the FBI agent and Emme worked well together.

This is an entertaining murder mystery set in a wonderful location and centering on the heroine's inner struggles.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Nicole Maggi is the author of A Murder in Zion, What They Don’t Know, and the Twin Willows Trilogy, as well as the nonfiction book Hidden Wonders and the ITW Thriller Award-nominated novel The Forgetting. Nicole holds a BFA from Emerson College and currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she spends her free time planning her next national park adventure and volunteering with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.  

Oceanview Publishing, 336 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)