We Begin at the End by Chis Whitaker

 Happy 2025! I guess we are passed that celebration.

The holidays were good. We had company for Christmas which we don't have often. We enjoyed that. 

January started off with the Mystery Book Club having our first meeting of the year. We read One Wrong Word by Hank Phillip Ryan. I had read it in the summer and did a post on it. Everyone liked it! Lots of twists and a surprise ending. We don't always have a thumbs up from everyone but we did for this book. Several of us are fans of the author.

Then at the house we started some reality episodes of This Old House followed by The Artic Blast; Will It Be Another Snowmageddon. Luckily it was not but had several days of below freezing and some snow. Not a fan. And we did get the repairs taken care of before that happened. Lots of distractions though.

I did finish We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. This is the first book by this author, published prior to the popular All The Colors of the Dark. We Begin...is just as popular, based on the number of holds at the library. Makes me think of the chicken and the egg question. I wonder if, like me, people read All The Colors...and then found there was another book by the author and are now clamoring to read it.

It is really good also. I listened to it on audio and loved it.

About: "Right. Wrong. Life is lived somewhere in between.

Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother.

Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families—the ones we are born into and the ones we create. "

There is so much more to this story. It takes place in a small town. The main adult characters have all grown up together. They have all had hard lives for different reasons. They all still live if not across the street from each other, just down the street from each other. Mix in some unsavory characters and you have problems. Someone is killed and everyone is quick to point at Vincent. He is so depressed and ridiculed after having been in prison for an incident that touched these same people, that he is quick to say he did it. But Walk doesn't think he did. But is his vision blurred because they were best friends in school?

Duchess is old way beyond her years. She takes care of her mother and her five year old brother. And if anyone harms, threatens or talks bad of them, she will take things into her own hands. 

Throughout the story, Walk is working on solving the murder as Duchess and Robin are trying to survive with the help of some other people. But it is a struggle.

Lots of ups and downs and a good unexpected ending. 

I would recommend it. We Begin at the End and All Colors of the Dark are standalones. The themes have similarities but as a whole the books are different.

I also started The Gray Wolf by Louise Penny during the Christmas holiday. It is very good as expected. I then received and ARC I had signed up for and turned my attention to it. It is also good - a spy/thriller story. I will share that when it is published in February. I now need to pick up our February MBC selection: How to Solve You're Own Murder by Kristin Perrin.

So I have several books to talk about soon! I am actually taking a day off to READ. I am thinking I should do that once a month. What do you think?