DOUBLE WIDE by GRETCHEN ARCHER

By Marilyn Armstrong on 08/27/2021 • ( 2 )

I was so excited that Gretchen Archer wrote a new book! Between the arrival of COVID and lockdown and the complexities of our lives during that period, some things went a bit late. In this case, this book took longer than usual, but what a great book! Absolutely worth the wait.

This Davis Way Caper is a real mystery. Murder, adventure, life and death survival, kid (adult) napping, and a secret island that’s not on the map. It’s also — as are all of Ms. Archer’s books highly entertaining. Sometimes, it’s very funny, as in laugh until your husband takes off his headphones and asks what’s so funny and you can’t explain it with explaining the whole book.

It’s really hard to give a description of the book without including too much information. What I can say is that since her very first book, Ms. Archer’s books have been exceptionally complex. There are more characters than you usually find in mystery novels. She never loses track of a character, never leaves you dangling at the end, wondering whatever happened to what’s-his-name. It gets complex — and gets sorted out.

I almost never read books — print on paper or on Kindle — these days, but I have always read these in print. One page at a time. I’ve never felt the audiobook versions got the voice right. Also, I like reading these books slowly. Sometimes, I read them extra slowly because there are a lot things going on. I can read at hyper-drive speed, but this is not the best way to read this kind of novel. It was useful when I was working, but it’s not great for reading mysteries or other novels with complicated plots.

I read the book on my Kindle even though I had the paperback. Why? Because I didn’t want to wrinkle the book’s pages. Gretchen always autographs them and I don’t want to accidentally fold a page or break the spine. I carefully put the book with all the others on it’s special part of my bookshelf — in the order in which they were written. Then I read the story on my Kindle.

I really treasure this series. I know I’m a little late reviewing it, but I took my time reading it and more time thinking about how to describe it. The material from the back of the book gives you a pretty good description or as good as you can have without spoilers. I really enjoyed it and I will read it again. Soon!

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It was fun, it was exciting. It felt more “real” than most mysteries.

Gretchen Archer has her own Amazon page where you will find all ten of her books.