One peaceful morning, in the small Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.

This book contains mentions of suicide and the death of a child.

Don’t be fooled by the verdant woods. The sleepy and bucolic Pacific Northwest knoll at the center of Sarah Crouch’s debut Middletide is harboring plenty of secrets, and they are starting to grow. Slowly but surely…

Meet Elijah Leith. He is a failed writer who has returned to the town of Point Orchards with his tail between his legs. As if that weren’t bad enough, not long after his return a dead body is found hanging from a tree in his yard. This guy really cannot catch a break. But the law doesn’t care about Elijah’s bad fortune and wants to finger someone for the murder. So our protagonist must move quickly to exonerate himself. Along the way, plenty of twists and turns are thrown at him and the reader.

But there’s so much more to hook you into this remarkable tale. Scintillating prose, ominous and enveloping atmospherics, rekindled love, and a keen eye for the natural world. All of this makes for a unique and uniquely compelling read.

This story will go places you don’t expect. Gird yourself and prepare to not want to put this one down once you pick it up. (And don’t read any spoilers.) You are in for a suspenseful and deftly written treat.