Take the Bait

Janelle Harvey, a high school senior, disappears while walking home in the remote village of Trout Run inside New York State's vast Adirondack Park. Police Chief Frank Bennett is new to town. He vows silently to find Janelle and not make another mistake in judgment like the one he made in a case at his previous job.This isn't easy in such a small town. Everyone thinks a stranger has come to town and kidnapped her. He isn't very popular with his theories that she went off with someone she knew or ran away. Cliff and Ned Stevenson make his life difficult at every turn. Jake Harvey, Janelle's father, is constantly in his face about this case as well. Then there's Janelle's aunt Dorothy and cousin Tommy. As Frank interviews Janelle's friends, she starts to see a different Janelle than the one painted by her father. He tries to follow each lead. He steps on many toes in the process. Frank works closely with the State police. He also works with his assistant Earl, but is afraid to put Earl in charge of much.Many pets are being killed. Frank feels there is a connection but can't tie them together. Everyone thinks he is wasting his time. The ransom note arrives and causes more controversy. Then other things begin happening. Frank is running out of time but has so many leads to follow he is afraid he is wasting his time.Trout Run is definitely a small town with a close knit community. No one wants to admit that something this terrible could happen there. Especially if one of them is involved.I really enjoyed this book. The author starts right out with her disappearance and pulled me right into the story with this.I thought Frank was a well-rounded character. He related well with the townspeople but yet didn't let them intimidate him. He still investigated them.The fact that no one was very forthcoming with information was also very indicative of a small town.I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more in this series.

I picked up this book planning to read just a few chapters before bed. Immediately, I got hooked by this story of a small town girl who isn't quite who she seems to be. I read well into the night, because I kept thinking I could figure out what was going on if I just read one chapter more. The author has created teriffic characters, laid out lots of red herrings, and tells the story with suspense and flashes of wry humor. Ultimately, I was surprised and amazed by how Hubbard pulls together all the plot elements into a coherent and satisfying conclusion. Read this book !

S.W. Hubbard makes the most of the Adirondacks setting, which comes alive with such details as the mud in spring and the categorization of the population as "from around here" and "not from around here," to launch a series featuring likeable, intelligent police chief Frank Bennett in a suspenseful story that kept the plot twists coming and also managed to keep them both plausible and pleasantly baffling. I'm looking forward to the next in the series. :)

It's not often I read a first mystery from a new writer that keeps me up all night, but Take the Bait from S.W. Hubbard did it. Living in a small mountain town myself, the layers of secrets that fictional Trout Run hides are totally believable, and the disclosure of them is satisfying. Every one of the characters stands out as a real and distinctive person, including Janelle, the teenager who disappears before we ever meet her but then gains shape and substance until her fate matters as much to the reader as to the town and its tenacious police chief, Frank Bennett. This is an impressive debut. I hate missing my sleep, but I'm already looking forward to #2.

Police Chief Frank Bennett is a man on the rebound--from a career cut short by a serious mistake, from the death of his wife. In the small town of Trout Run, New York, he gets a second chance and considers himself lucky. But when a local girl goes missing, he realizes how tenuous his new role is. The town guards its secrets and doesn't appreciate a stranger who tries to dig beneath the surface of the idyllic small town image. A powerful local family blocks his investigation and even threatens to terminate his contract. Penny Stevenson, another outsider, married into the quintessential American dream in Trout Run and describes it this way: "It all seemed so perfect, so Norman Rockwell. I guess I fell in love with the whole package--the small town life surrounded by a big family. But I can't seem to get this family solidarity thing right....I guess it's like royalty. You have to be born into it."Frank has a theory--that the missing teen was not kidnapped or abducted by a stranger, but instead that she went on her own, or maybe with the help of someone nearby. And she had a good reason to go. Despite the complaints and roadblocks thrown in his way, Frank continues his search. When he uncovers the truth, he finally earns the respect of his new town. Take the Bait is reminiscent of traditional British mysteries, but with a moody setting in New York's Adirondack Mountains. In both setting and mood, it reminded me of Julia Spencer-Fleming's In the Bleak Midwinter, a recent Agatha Award winner for best first novel. I recommend that readers watch for more from debut writer S. W. Hubbard.