Book Review: Shudder Pulp by Vanessa Westermann

I read the first book in the Charley Scott mystery series a few years ago, you can find my review here. The second in the series titled Shudder Pulp by Vanessa Westermann is much the same, but it takes place during the shorter days of fall instead of the hot days of summer. The hallmarks of what I loved in the first book have also returned; the cottage country setting, the cozy mystery vibe, and the chocolatier and his famous chocolate shop. Aside from a minor quibble I have about the dialogue (more on that below), I fully enjoyed this book as much as the first, so I’m hopeful I can spread the word about this up-and-coming Canadian author.

Plot Summary

We pick up where the last book left off; a few months later as the weather turns chilly and Halloween is just around the corner. Charley has easily settled into life in small-town Oakcrest, living with her sister and her boyfriend, and dating the local chocolate shop owner Matt. She also has a dog named Cocoa who follows her everywhere, including to the art gallery space Charley is reviving, and putting up a ‘pulp art’ show that plays on the local legend of a lake monster. The plot jumps off quickly with a local woman Laura storming into the gallery and accusing Charley of stirring up trouble; Laura believes the lake monster attacked her, and as she is dripping wet pointing her finger at Charley, she’s making a convincing case. Fast forward a few hours and Laura is found dead outside her brother’s marina, foul play suspected. Charley’s art show is supposed to open on Halloween, but now that there’s a dangerous person at large, maybe even a lake monster, she shifts her focus to investigating Laura’s murder. Her boyfriend Matt is having trouble perfecting his usually-popular chocolate recipes, so he’s more than happy to follow Charley around on this new adventure instead. Laura was pushing for the development of a local dam and she wasn’t very well liked, so the suspect list is long with a few different motives popping up as the search for her killer continues. The legend of the lake monster has everyone on edge, and it doesn’t help matters as threatening signs pointing to its existence begin to emerge, including a severed animal head. The second installment isn’t as ‘fun’ as the first, as the atmosphere and weather is much darker, but it still maintains the rules of the cozy mystery so it never feels gruesome.

My Thoughts

Let’s get my complaint out of the way: the dialogue. The dialogue between characters is totally fine, they speak realistically and their conversations move the plot along well. What I did have a problem with was the constant interjection of the character’s inner thoughts in between sections of dialogue. I found it broke the rhythm of the conversations, and it interrupted the flow of the writing. For example:

” ‘You can bail it out and hope you stay afloat long enough to save yourself.’

Advice for him or her? ‘You could let Alex do his job’

‘The way you did?’ She took a breath before he could react, do anything more than absorb the blow. ‘I’m sorry. But the more people ask questions, the faster we’ll uncover the truth’.

And sometimes the truth hurt.” (p. 69-70 of Shudder Pulp by Vanessa Westermann)

It’s hard to give a sense of this issue in just one quote, but Charley and Matt were constantly analyzing people’s responses (as good detectives should) but it would happen in between conversations, rather than after the character had finished speaking. This didn’t hinder my overall enjoyment of the book, but I did find it annoying. Mysteries are supposed to flow easily, simply because the plot is the main driver for reading it, so I would have preferred the internal dialogue reflect this.

As far as mysteries go, this is very well plotted. There’s a list of viable suspects, each with strong motives, and much of the book is spent getting closer to these people, drawing them out in conversation to determine if they are the culprit. Scott does find herself in a few dangerous moments which amp up the suspense of the book, but this is done gradually and feels totally believable.

The author does a fantastic job of building atmosphere in this one too; even though this is all happening in a quaint little town, it’s not impossible to imagine these jealousies and resentments building, especially among those who have lived next to one another for decades. The Halloween setting is well-suited to the plot and never feels gimmicky, and Charley and Matt’s storylines progress well, easily laying the foundation for the next in the series. Despite my complaint above I’m still excited to read the next installment, whenever that comes out. I respect the fact that this author takes a few years to write and release these books – there’s no need to churn one out each year! She takes care with the characters and the storylines, and it shows.