Book Review: The First Time I Died (Garnet McGee Book 1) by Jo Macgregor

The author is Joanne Macgregor writing as Jo Macgregor. Joanne Macgregor's website can be found here.

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The First Time I Died is the first book in the author's Garnet McGee series. I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing where she takes her character next. The First Time I Died has a paranormal element (not a spoiler, you know from the cover) but Macgregor doesn't bludgeon the reader with otherworldly stuff which I appreciated. What the book is, is a good amateur sleuthing crime-solving story.

Garnet McGee returns to her small Vermont home town of Pitchford. Rather than dying like a lot of small towns, Pitchford  has turned itself into a quaint destination. I like the small town setting because gives  an instant knowledge and intimacy and allows Garnet to react against her own memories and the memories of those who remained in town.

Garnet is taking a break from work on her master's thesis in psychology to return home for the Christmas holiday. The origin of Garnet's name and how it fits into her family life are a fun bit of the story. 

When Garnet left Pitchford 10 years ago she vowed never to return. The unsolved murder of her high school boyfriend, Cody, is still raw and has left her unable to connect with anyone, withdrawing from intimacy. An incident on a frozen pond leaves Garnet clinically dead but she is brought back to life by EMS. 

Strange things happened while Garnet was drowning and afterwords words and visions pop into her mind. She seems to be seeing what happened to Cody. This brush with the paranormal and a vow to Cody's dying sister compels Garnet to find out who murdered Cody.

The author is herself a clinical psychologist which works when developing her character's back story and state of mind. Garnet is going to be naturally skeptical and any hint of the paranormal and I like the way this was worked into the story. The reader isn't smacked with a data dump but is left with a good idea how science views what is happening to Garnet.

I enjoyed the way the story is plotted. Garnet goes off on wild tangents as you would expect from an amateur sleuth but her instincts are solid which leads to a very satisfying ending. There is the use of a plot device that annoys me greatly – loss of something important which was entirely avoidable – that I saw coming way in advance but it didn't actually make a difference in the story. I decided that I really wasn't that annoyed after all. There is also a small incident that takes place in a flashback that turns out to be a Checkov's Gun. I liked that I spotted that. 

Being that Joanne Macgregor is a South African writer, the Vermont USA setting intrigued me but nothing she wrote about a small New England town pulled me out of the story. My wife has family next door in New Hampshire so I'm familiar with the area.

So, in summary, The First Time I Died A good read and one I recommend to someone who likes nicely plotted amateur crime investigation with a brush of the paranormal. The author has left me greatly anticipating the next book in the series.

Keywords: crime fiction, paranormal, small town mystery, Vermont, South African author