Call Me Elizabeth Lark
By Melissa Colasanti
Melissa Colasanti’s Call Me Elizabeth Lark is an excellent book that does a lot of things right. Colasanti starts by giving the reader a vivid description of the dreary Oregon inn and the family at the center of the story.
We are introduced to the Barkley Inn during the winter off-season. The dilapidated inn attracts guests for two reasons. The inn has a no-questions-asked policy for guests who are escaping their current lives and forging new identities. It also became a true crime spot after Herb and Myra Barkleys’ young daughter Charlotte disappeared 20 years before.
Elizabeth is fleeing an abusive marriage and arrives at the Barkley Inn with her young son, Theo. Myra immediately believes that Elizabeth is her now-grown daughter Charlotte. Herb and daughter Gwen are skeptical, since this isn’t the first time the mentally fragile Myra has mistakenly identified a female guest as Charlotte. Elizabeth perpetuates the assumption that she is the long-lost Charlotte as she fears her husband will find Theo and her. Even after he was confirmed dead, Elizabeth and Theo are still not safe. Who is targeting Elizabeth and the Barkleys?
Throughout the book, we’re introduced to new characters whose initial entrance can be puzzling but whose secrets, intentions and bad decisions contributed to the story and its outcome. Just when it appears that a question is answered, more questions are introduced. While I was reading, I’d think a character was giving clues, but I wouldn’t know how those clues fit in until I read the books’ concluding chapters. I often would facepalm when those clues were resolved, since the answers she gave made sense.
Melissa Colasanti’s Call Me Elizabeth Lark is an excellent book that does a lot of things right. Share on XSome secrets would provide more insight into a character’s intentions and behavior. At the end, the loose ends have been tied up as the mystery was unveiled.
Successful mysteries present a confusing situation and a satisfying conclusion. The mystery is solved, the villains are exposed, and other characters are a little wiser as they return to their “normal” lives. Colasanti wrote a successful mystery that I quickly devoured, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
