Book Review: A Box of Frogs (Highclere Inn & Carriage House Mystery, #1) by Josh Hellyer

A Box of Frogs by Josh Hellyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When their patriarch dies under suspicious circumstances, long-held secrets threaten a family's inheritance and their lives.

A Box of Frogs by Josh Hellyer is a thrillingly complex domestic mystery about the aftermath of the suspicious death of former Senator Miles "The Tank" Valentine and the impact on his surviving family members. When the children from his first marriage are completely and unexpectedly cut out of his will, including bequests left to them by their long-deceased mother and supposedly held in trust by their father, it falls to grandson Mason Valentine and his cousin, investigative reporter Cordelia "Cici" Bradshaw to dig up the truth.

Mason and Cici are such likable and engaging characters; it was easy to be drawn into their investigation and family drama, rooting for them all the way. They were genuinely kind people, not begrudging their father's widow's inheritance and only questioning those issues related to their grandmother's assets, at least until they discovered how little of their grandfather's fortune remained for her. The two worked well together while independently pursuing different leads regarding the estate. Their clever and witty dialogue was a definite highlight of the book. I enjoyed this large, extended family and their circle of elderly friends who had spent so much time staying at the family's resort over numerous decades.

The setting for the story is the Highclere Inn & Carriage House Resort, the Valentine family's 150-year-old resort on the shores of fictional Lake Belvedere in the Muskoka region of Central Ontario, Canada. The descriptions of the property, the cottages and outbuildings, and the family burial plot were vivid and beautifully evocative of all four seasons of the year timeframe of the story. I could clearly visualize where the action was occurring, the casual family holidays, the somber (and surreal) memorial service for the former Senator, and the thrilling and exhilarating final reveal, as if I were seeing things firsthand.

The plot is intriguing and deceptively simple, gradually revealing its actual complexity layer by eye-opening layer. Several characters are offered up as possible suspects throughout, and it was mesmerizing watching Mason and Cici separate the red herrings from who was really pulling the strings behind the scenes. Just when I had a theory in mind, some plot twist would send it out the window. I enjoyed the incorporation of pop cultural references sprinkled along the way. The story was compelling and full of surprises, and the tragic eleventh-hour resolution was absolutely thrilling.

With its engaging protagonists and intricate, well-paced plot, I highly recommend A BOX OF FROGS to mystery and thriller readers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.


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