Some Choose Darkness by Charlie Donlea

Hello everyone.

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and they brought you the wrong dish, only it was actually better than what you ordered and became a new favorite? Stuff like that happens to me all the time. Several years ago we were buying our first old house. We found several houses we loved in a specific neighborhood in Virginia. As soon as we put a contract on a house something would happen. Someone would beat our offer by thirty minutes, or take cash off credit cards to come up with an all cash offer. We were getting really upset. Finally one day while driving around, pointing out the window I said to hubby, "I don't care anymore, I like them all. I'll take any house in this neighborhood except that one. I don't like that one, I'll take any house except that." Can you guess what happened? Of course, that was the house we bought and loved. My mother never mentioned fate by name but through the process kept telling us to be calm what is meant to be will be.

That ugly duckling house that had been divided into apartments ended up being amazing. As we restored it, we found the stairs had once been much more elaborate. So while removing added walls and the floored over grand stair opening, we found a wall of handmade raised paneling, with picture hooks from 100 years ago still hanging in place. As we took down walls in the attic to add heating (oh yes, we bravely purchased a house with no central heat or a/c), we found so many things behind walls and hidden under floorboards: button-up shoes, booze bottles, servants love letters, a corset, needlework, tin types, art work, etc. We even found an intact Duncan Phyfe sofa...never heard of it...look it up I'll wait...it's amazing and was sitting in a falling down old metal shed. One of the drawings ended up being from an artist that taught art in our house, she became a National Gallery Artist. They have since contacted us asking for copies or the donation of the original. All those people that purchased the houses that we had tried to buy started searching their homes for amazing finds but came up empty. Only our house was like living in a HGTV show. It was mean to be, thanks Mom.

Recently the generous Kensington Publishing sent me several books, all of which I will read and review.  To start I picked a title and author I had never heard about, Some Choose Darkness by Charlie Donlea. This story is about a young woman, Rory Moore, who is a bit different. She is not fond of some social settings, touching, and returning phone calls. She is also amazing at solving cold-case murders. She has the ability to put herself into the position of each player in a case and to reason out who was the killer. Because this skill is so specialized she works as a consultant for the police. Think of a combination of Lisbeth Salander and Monk, only better, warmer and endearing. You will cheer for Rory and admire her. This is no Chablis drinking ordinary woman, she prefers dark stout beer, echoing the darkness found several places in this book. As the story opens Rory gets a new case to solve but her father dies unexpectedly, leaving her to deal with both difficult topics. To make matters worse, she finds that for some reason her dad has been representing a serial killer about to be released from prison. I don't want to say anymore. This book is skillful in the way that it gives you a bit of info at a time. There are many twists and they are released throughout the story propelling you forward. Donlea is masterful at weaving the past and present together. He writes about likable characters that come together to merge into an unforgettable read.

If you love mysteries or thrillers, this could be your favorite of the year. Some Choose Darkness is so much better than getting verde when you ordered a smoked salsa. For me, Charlie Donlea has gone from Charlie Who? to one of my favorite authors. Guess Mom was right, this was meant to be.