crafalsk264 's review for:

At First Light by Barbara Nickless

3.5

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

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The body has a noose around its neck, the throat has been slashed and the head has been bashed in with a blunt object. It is found in winter on the banks of the Calumet River in Chicago. There are wooden slats surrounding the head with runes inscribed on them. They translate into a poem in the Old English style (aka Beowulf) regarding a series of murders as part of a Viking blood feud. Shortly after the investigation begins, it turns out that there was a similar death a few months before so 2 of 5 murders have already begun this deadly chain of events.

The two Chicago police detectives on the case are Adrianne (Addie) Bissett and Patrick McBrady. They immediately call in Dr. Evan Wilding, a forensic semiotician to decode the etchings and advise on the symbols from the crime scene and their meaning to the Killer. Dr. Wilding is “a person with dwarfism” as well as a brilliant academician who comes with a goshawk named “Ginny” and a graduate research assistant named Diana who has a physique like an Amazon and is learning axe throwing.

The author apparently has a previous successful series and this is the start of a new one. It is long and gets off to a slow start with some lagging spots throughout. The Wilding character is used to provide information on the subjects of semiotics, Old English poetry, runology, Viking history, bog bodies, and axe throwing. The reveal of the murderer was a surprise as there was no connection between the murderer and any of the main characters or the investigation elements. The main characters were likable and I did get to care what happened to them. But they were not what I would consider to be well developed. I will probably read more of the series at some point but I won’t make an effort to seek it out.

I  received this book as a Goodreads giveaway with a request for an honest review. My appreciation to Goodreads, the author and publisher. This review is my honest opinion.