It’s rare to find a crime novel where nobody dies. It’s part of the genre. It’s the rock we most commonly throw in the pond, just to watch the intrigue, confusion, and drama in the ripples. It’s handled in all sorts of ways too. There’s no right or wrong here. There are riveting stories where people die on nearly every page (Hello, Jack Reacher), stories where one singular death rocks an entire community (Hello, Big Little Lies), and everything in between.
These themes were heavy on my mind as I began writing What He Left Behind and brought protagonist Grace Bingham into a small-town mystery that brings legacy and impact squarely into the forefront. Bingham, who has never left Oak Hill in her thirty-five years, ends up working alongside long-lost-love Jacob Sawyer, who bolted town as soon as he turned eighteen. I wanted to bring into contrast two potential paths and interrogate whether one had more value than the other, weighing those with deep, singular roots against those with shallow roots but expansive branches. How does that impact one’s legacy? Is one better than the other?
Throughout the novel, the theme of legacy and impact on our community reverberates in countless ways. There are characters who have kept secrets all of their lives, only to have the truth leak in their dying days. There are characters who stare down a crossroads and have to decide what they’d like their world to look like. It’s a nearly universal, yet nagging, question that looms throughout the town.
These proverbial questions and their respective answers, ultimately, are up to the reader, but in examining the world of legacy and what we leave in our wake, I had some incredible company that begged similar themes in their novels. Here’s a sampling:
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Van Laar family has been through the wringer and in this multiple timeline slow burn from Liz Moore; so many moments and interactions provoke questions about legacy and what we leave in our wake when we go. Family names play a big part in legacies; some are built by them and some are undone, but as the past meets the present here, almost every character in the novel faces some question about their legacy and life.
Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan
A fun twist on the generational woes brings multiple characters in Ryan’s novel face to face with old legends and echoes of past mistakes. Mix that with a riveting small town treasure hunt and you’ve got an incredibly rich tale that begs so many questions. Each character in the present day is lugging around the sins or unknowns of their family name, which makes for a compelling read.
What You Leave Behind by Wanda Morris
Set on the coast of Georgia, Morris’ novel brings protagonist Deena Wood into the world of Holcomb, who is fighting desperately to keep land that has been in his family for generations. Holcomb’s story is a grim one, with strained familial relationships and a lonely existence, and it’s apparent that one of his last great hopes is to keep the land safe. Morris sprinkles these life-and-death questions throughout, keeping Holcomb and their legacy as a common thread through a great mystery.
Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
Everybody with children dreams of someday solving a murder mystery with them. Okay, maybe not everyone. But in Simon’s light-hearted and fast-paced tale, three generations of women come together and grapple with a local mystery. It tests their already-strained relationships and puts their fraying bonds under a microscope, particularly for Lana, the grandmother, who is in her sunset years and staring down her own legacy.
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