#NetGalley #BookReview Death in the Details, A Novel by Katie Tietjen #Cozy #Mystery #HistoricalMystery

Review 

Death in the Details

A Novel

by  

Katie Tietjen

Release date: April 9th, 2024

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐

(4.5 rounded up)

I received a complimentary ARC copy of Death in the Details, A Novel by Katie Tietjen from Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books in order to read and give an honest review. 

…This book was a unique, well written and cleverly plotted cozy mystery which had it all, an amazing protagonist, quirky cast of characters and a wonderfully twisty mystery that  reaches  a satisfying conclusion...

In this debut from author Katie Tietjen we meet War widow Maple Bishop who is no stranger to grief, growing up in the rough parts of Boston, she lost her mother, her brother years before and now her husband has died serving his country.  Longing for a fresh start, the newlyweds had moved to a small town in Vermont, before deploying he worked as a small-town doctor and her unable to get a job to utilize her law degree and not quite fitting in the small-town social circles stayed at home.  When her husband dies during the war other than her good friend Charlotte, Maple has never felt so alone.  Just when she believes things can’t get worse, she is informed by her lawyers that all but twelve dollars of her husband’s insurance policy has been eaten by debts accrued by her husband, not charging patients who were down on their luck. With a measly twelve dollars to her name, she doesn’t know how she will pay her mortgage. Her only solace is found in creating her miniature detailed doll houses with miniature dolls depicting happy comfortable lives.  Through her grief she becomes obsessed with them and can’t seem to stop herself, as they take over her home.  While picking up supplies at the local hardware store the owner, who has become a friend, offers her a place in front of the window to set up a table for her to set up shop both building them and selling, hoping it will help her and help bring business into the store. A deal is struck, and she begins the next day. When she meets the wife of the town bully, she can’t help but see the bruises so when she asks Maple to recreate her childhood home, Maple agrees, promising to deliver it to their home in a few days. On the scheduled evening she goes to deliver it to the rural farm but she feels something is wrong. There is no sign of life at the farm.  Knowing they were expecting her she searches the property only to find the husband strung up to the rafters and the wife nowhere in sight. Shocked at the discovery she calls the police, but as she waits her mind does what it does best, and “find what’s big in what’s small” her focus falls on all the little details of the crime scene. While the apathetic police and the medical examiner are quick to declare the death an accident, Maple with all of details etched in her memory can’t believe the case has been closed and needs to figure it out by recreating the crime scene. Building it like she would a doll house she recreates the crimescene in a nutshell and begins weeding through the discrepancies convincing herself that the man’s death was murder.  Armed with the nutshell she storms into the police station and presents her findings to the sheriff but it just isn’t enough to convince him and the case remains closed and the death remains “an accident”. Not willing to stand for his apathy, she confronts him and is asked to leave the police station and does so knowing she has annoyed the sheriff too much.  The next day an idealistic young deputy who witnessed her altercation with the sheriff believes her, returning the “nutshell” and together they begin to investigate the case quietly uncovering much more than they bargained for.   
I absolutely loved the protagonist, Maple is well formed, her grief is palpable as is her honesty and tenacity.  Even more impressive is that she is inspired by the real “mother of forensic science” Frances Glessner Lee, considered paramount to the first-of-its kind Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University when the field of forensics was in its infancy. Lee crafted her intricately detailed miniature crime scenes called “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” used to train homicide investigators. This book was a unique, well written and cleverly plotted cozy mystery which had it all, an amazing protagonist, quirky cast of characters and a wonderfully twisty mystery that  reaches  a satisfying conclusion. I absolutely recommend it and I really hope there are future Maple Bishop books.