August Online Book Club: The Coroner by Jennifer Dornbush
The Coroner (A Coroner’s Daughter Mystery Book 1)
by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush
After thirteen years away, Emily Hartford finally came home.
Estranged from her father, grieving her mother’s death, and heartbroken, in high school she escaped her hometown to live with an aunt in Chicago and continued with her life, never looking back.
When her father’s heart attack summons her from a prestigious medical residency and new fiance, she’s forced to confront everything about her past she’d denied for so long. Emily agrees to do the autopsy on a local girl’s suspicious death which pulls her further into the local politics and community.
What follows is a murder mystery layered with themes about grieving the loss of a parent at a young age, taking the road less traveled, losing yourself in a romantic relationship, and what does home truly mean? Emily has to answer all these questions and solve the mystery before she can move on.
I never set out to read a book set in Upper Michigan while I vacationed there. However, reading about the fictional town of Freeport, I was able to envision the story even more because of driving through the countryside while I read. People like me who live in cities might find it hard to believe a medical examiner might have his practice, tools, and reports in a building attached to his home. However, now that I’ve seen how far apart and small the towns are, I can imagine that saving money for the county by hiring his daughter to fill in for the local coroner would make sense.
It’s a unique, but compelling scenario for a novel. This book can be read as a standalone, but you’ll want to keep reading the next in the series to find out what happens to everyone next.
Jennifer Graeser Dornbush is a screenwriter, speaker, and forensic specialist who is working on the third book in the Coroner’s Daughter series. The story is in development for the Lifetime Network and my fingers are crossed that we’ll be seeing it on TV some day. I met Jennifer at Bouchercon in 2019 and was inspired by her quest for shining light and into dark stories. Growing up as a coroner’s daughter, she had unique experiences that your average doctor’s daughter doesn’t see.
Jennifer recently joined my in person book club by zoom to chat with us during our discussion of her book. We love meeting authors in person or by zoom and asking background questions about their writing lives. If you’re in a book club, don’t be shy about inviting an author to speak with your group. Many are willing to give an hour of their time to readers and fans. The worst they can say is no I’m busy, but if you ask, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Non-fiction selection: Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
Last year I slowly worked my way through Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life, which gave me quite a bit to think about. Later I listened to podcasts and watched videos where he explained more of his ideas for how to live an ordered life.
I’m only on Rule #1 (Do Not Carelessly Denigrate Social Institutions or Creative Achievement), but already I’ve underlined and starred a bunch of places in the margins. Forged by Peterson’s addiction and serious illness while writing Beyond Order, these next rules are even more useful for finding meaning and purpose in life.
About loneliness and confusion, he wrote, “We all need to think to keep things straight, but we mostly think by talking.” I found this especially true last year when my normal work life was upended and I was stuck alone at home all day.
Writing about the utility of gratitude and humility, Peterson said, “It is useful to take your place at the bottom of a hierarchy … Much that is great starts small, ignorant, and useless.”
I can’t wait to keep reading this book. It usually takes me several months because it’s one of those you need to stop and think about in between chapters. Comment below if you’ve read either of Peterson’s books and tell me what has stuck with you from his teachings.
Kelly Brakenhoff is an author of eleven books and an ASL interpreter. She divides her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and picture books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. The mother of four young adults and a hunting dog, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.
