The Hiding Place

January 25, 2021
In Munier’s gripping third mystery featuring former military MP Mercy Carr and her sniffer dog, Elvis (after 2020’s Blind Search), George Rucker, who murdered Mercy’s grandfather, Sheriff Red O’Sullivan, has escaped from a Vermont prison, and the authorities are afraid he may be coming after Red’s widow. Meanwhile, Red’s former deputy, August Pitts, is dying. August asks to speak with Mercy about the case that was worrying her grandfather just before his murder: a woman’s disappearance in 1999. To complicate matters, a young wildlife biologist and filmmaker from the University of Vermont has been found dead in the snowy woods, naked except for his socks. Are these seemingly disparate cases connected in some way? With Elvis at her side, Mercy pursues her suspects through the dangerously frigid countryside, occasionally accepting the help of game warden Troy Warner and his dog, Susie Bear. Munier combines a complex plot with well-defined characters, both human and canine, as she keeps readers guessing. This action- and emotion-packed novel will hold a special appeal for dog lovers.

January 15, 2021
A case from the past creates trouble for the family of a murdered sheriff. Mercy Carr returned from Afghanistan broken in spirit after the death of her fiance but determined to rebuild her life. She and game warden Troy Warner had formed a deep attachment, but it was marred by the sudden return of the wife Mercy thought he'd divorced. When Mercy and Elvis, her retired bomb dog, visit August Pitt, her late grandfather Red's dying deputy, he begs her to find someone named Beth Kilgore, giving her boxes filled with the files of a long-cold case. Back home, Troy and his tracking dog, Susie Bear, find the body of a missing wildlife biologist. Blindsided when Elvis' original handler wants the dog back, Mercy refuses, but the man doesn't give up. The next blow is the prison escape of George Rucker, the real estate developer who killed Red. After her grandmother's house is bombed, Mercy and Troy investigate the bombing and take over Pitt's hunt for Beth. A search of Rucker's remote unsold properties reveals a skeleton in a barrel. The kidnapping of Mercy's grandmother results in a frantic search, dangerous interactions in frozen woods with unknown killers, and the realization that those old cases are very much tied to the present. Another exciting, complex, dog-centric mystery that explores the heroine's inner strength and power to love.

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Starred review from March 1, 2021

Military veteran Mercy Carr and Vermont game warden Troy Warner have tracked killers before with their dogs, Elvis and Susie Bear, but their investigation of fast-developing cases now is hampered by the falling-out between them. A dying man asks Mercy to look for Beth Kilgore, who disappeared 20 years earlier. Does that case tie to the shooting of Mercy's grandfather when he was sheriff? It may, since law enforcement tells the family that the man who killed her grandfather has escaped from prison and might be heading home, looking for Patience, Mercy's grandmother. Mercy doesn't have time to get answers before Elvis saves Mercy and Patience from a bomb that explodes at the door. Troy is investigating the murder of a wildlife biologist, but the head of the Major Crime Unit asks him to work with Mercy. Now Mercy, Troy, and their dogs have a cold case, a murder investigation, and the problem of protecting Mercy's uncooperative grandmother. Then Elvis's first military handler shows up, wanting to claim the dog that she has bonded with since the death of her fianc� in Afghanistan. VERDICT The sequel to Blind Search is a riveting, fast-paced story of family and small-town secrets. Tension builds quickly in the emotional story involving unforgettable working dogs and the people who love them.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2021
This third Mercy Carr mystery (following Blind Search, 2019) finds Mercy more settled: Brodie, the teenager whom Mercy took in earlier in the series, has made a cozy family with her partner and new baby, and Mercy continues to enjoy the proximity of her steadfast grandmother, Patience, if not the problems of dealing with her persnickety mother, Grace. Then army veteran Wesley Hallet shows up; he's the former handler of Elvis, Mercy's ex-military dog, and he wants Elvis back. Readers might expect the Hallmark treatment, wherein Mercy and Hallet's dislike thaws and they (and Elvis) live happily ever after, but no. There's soon an attack on Patience's home, the man who killed Mercy's grandfather escapes from jail, and a young man's body is found in the woods. Add a will-they-won't-they romance between Mercy and Vermont game warden Troy, and the mysteries and thrilling chases compound, culminating in a lengthy, frightening scene that will keep readers gripped. Munier unobtrusively paints vivid pictures of both rural Vermont and family life as her exciting story unfolds.

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