Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan

The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan is her second book set in small town Vermont and tells the story of two estranged adult sisters who are forced to move back one summer, solve a puzzle, and try to reconcile in order to obtain their inheritance. Rose and Emily are the two sisters and while I enjoyed the flashbacks to their childhood, I found their present day antics and acts of vandalism to be somewhat unrealistic. One is coping unsuccessfully with alcoholism and that adds further angst to the story.

Darcie Chan does a good job of developing the relationships that are so important to a small town, but, for me, this book would have been stronger if there was more emphasis on the mystery (although there was a surprising twist at the end). Overall, The Mill River Redemption is an easy, undemanding summer read. For other stories set in Vermont, look for titles like Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher.  And fans of gentle, summer mysteries can always turn to award-winning childhood classics by E. L. Konigsburg or Zilpha Keatley Snyder.