Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: In the Pines

SERIES: A Charlie Schiffer Mystery #1

AUTHOR: Laura Lascarso

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 23, 2018

BLURB:

When your high school crush is also your number one suspect, what’s a boy to do?

After the disappearance of Eastview High’s homecoming king, seventeen-year-old Charlie Schiffer must put his detective skills to work to help class heartthrob Dare Chalmers find his missing twin brother. From the gator-filled swamps of Paynes Prairie to the truck-stop strip club Café Risqué, there’s no situation too dicey for this amateur sleuth when he’s on the prowl for clues to this mystery.

Meanwhile, Dare is everything Charlie could want in a boyfriend—charismatic, handsome, polite—but as Charlie’s mother always says, the unlikeliest people can turn out to be criminals. When evidence surfaces revealing his suspects’ hidden motives, Charlie must dig deep to suss out who among them is innocent and who is guilty, even if it means betraying the man he cares for most.

REVIEW:

The most exciting part of finishing this book is the subtitle—”A Charlie Schiffer Mystery.” That means Lascarso is nowhere near finished with Charlie, Dare, and the drama of Eastview High and Paynes Prairie, Florida. I could easily devour about a dozen more of these mysteries. They cannot come soon enough!

It took me a few chapters to warm up to Charlie, the shy son of a local detective who has always helped his mom with her cases. He edges into precociousness here and there, sounding more like a 40-year-old than a teenager, but he finds his voice quickly. He prefers the quiet life of an introvert—a mom he loves, a perfect dog, and the possibility of juicy local cases that will help him sharpen his detective skills. He’s also nursing a years-long crush on Dare Chalmers, the charismatic prince of Drama Club who rules the school with his twin brother, Mason.

When Mason goes missing on the night of the twins’ birthday party, the mystery unfolds quietly and steadily. The suspect list grows longer, the evidence fits together piece by piece. Charlie soon becomes Dare’s source of support, but his mother warns him that Dare himself might be the prime suspect. When Mason’s disappearance hits a horrifying fever pitch, the small-town stakes are raised, and Charlie sets out to solve the case. This book is a great example of a classic mystery. Once we think we know who did it, the tables turn, and we’re back to guessing again. It’s a formula that absolutely works—and definitely pays off in the nail-biting climax.

I like the growing dynamic between Charlie and the other high school students as he methodically questions them about the case. Some, like Mason’s girlfriend Daniela and curious cheerleader Tameka, are eager to help. But others raise an eyebrow as Charlie’s inquisitive nature. He’s only one of them, after all—he’s not a cop. And due to an SAT cheating ring he infiltrated the year before, his peers still see him as a traitor. But Charlie takes his role as junior investigator pretty seriously, and even though his methods can be clunky, he tends to get the job done. He’s mellow and affable, not prone to drama or turning heads, making him the ideal man to fly under the radar.

Charlie and Dare are absolutely wonderful together. Their relationship grows slowly—Dare is grieving, and Charlie has never even kissed anyone before. But Dare trusts Charlie in a way he can’t trust anyone else, even his parents, and Charlie is always a cool-headed, steady rock to lean against. Charlie is shy, but he knows what he wants, and he vows to be the stability Dare craves. Despite Dare being outgoing and popular, he’s still a teenager figuring himself out, and his earnest courtship with Charlie is achingly adorable. I’ve noticed in previous Lascarso works that the heat level gets pretty high for teen characters, but this one simmers at a high PG-13 level that will probably go up in future works.

Another of Lascarso’s 2018 releases, When Everything Is Blue, is one of my favorite YA romances of the year so far. Now this one is definitely high up on my list, too. She captures teenage melancholy so well, and she writes younger characters with both sympathy and a hint of justified humor. I think she’s still finding that perfect teenage voice, but I can only see her works getting better and better.

This is a truly excellent mystery, romance, and young adult thriller. It’s a great start to a series that will hopefully last a long, long time.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon