Welcome to Hope Street Church, where friendships are formed, fresh starts are encouraged, and mysteries are solved.
Cooper Lee was at a crossroads. Her boyfriend of five years had just left her for another woman, she was living in an apartment above her parents’ garage, and her job as a copier repairperson was feeling a little, well, repetitious. Hoping for a fresh start and a new outlook on life, she joins the Bible study group at Hope Street Church. The last thing she expects while studying the Bible is a lesson in murder.
When Brooke Hughes, the woman who first invited Cooper to Hope Street, is found murdered in her home, all signs point to her husband as the culprit. But Wesley Hughes was an elder at Hope Street Church, and the members of the Bible study are filled with disbelief that such a kind and loving man could take a life, much less his wife’s. Unwilling to let an innocent man and friend be railroaded into prison, the Bible group decides to investigate on their own.
My Thoughts :
I am a big fan of Ellery Adams books so when I saw “The Path of the Crooked” and the next two books in the series on Netgalley, I snapped the up. It seems that Path of the Crooked is the first of the three Hope Street Church mysteries that were originally published under the name Jennifer Stanley. At the beginning of the book Adams has added a comment saying that she has kept the main plot from the original series but has polished up the writing in the three books. After reading the opening comment from the author I realised that I actually have all three of these books on my shelf in paperback. Knowing that they have been 'spruced up' I decided that I should read the new editions and started with this one asap.
Cooper was a nice character from the get go. Her named bothered me and I kept thinking she was a guy but I liked her and she has some interesting things about her. Her hockey accident past made me laugh because I was one the one holding the stick that hit a friend in the eye back in my school days. Luckily she only had a nice black eye but it was funny that an unusual past memory of mine was thought up by an author and used in a story.
The church aspect had me a little worried at first but the story didn't get religious and the author doesn't used the concept to preach. Hope Street Church is just a setting and a chance to add some interesting characters to a really nice cozy. The plot was a little slow going at times but it was nice to figure things out as they happened. What surprised me about this one was the lack of police presence. Usually in a cozy there is some one Detective or otherwise from the law telling the amateur sleuth to stay out of things. Maybe it will come in the next book but it was certainly refreshing for the time being.
Books two and three are on my Kindle waiting to be read but I have some other commitments to read in between. I look forward to visiting Hope Street Church very soon and can't wait to see where the author takes the series. There is even talk of her adding more books to the original three installments. I hope that readers of the original books don't pick these ones up by mistake but find out that this series has been republished and has a new future. Well worth checking out if you like Ellery Adams other books.
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