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As I love a good mystery, it is a particular pleasure to take part in the Reading Between The Lines, Book Blog Tour for Finding the Source by Joan Livingston: An Isabel Long Mystery Series (Book 8), published in 2025 by Casa Rosa Books.

#FINDINGTHESOURCE

Blurb

A homeless man. His murdered mother. A book could be the clue.

Isabel Long’s next case begins during a chance encounter with a homeless man, who says he was 12 when he found his mother murdered in their home.

Abby McKenzie was a well-liked seller of vintage books who owned a store in the hilltown of Dillard. That was 43 years ago and the case was never solved.

One obstacle is that several of the suspects are dead, including an avid book collector, a former town official who stalked her, and the man who last saw her alive. Another is that, once again, Isabel must deal with Dillard’s police chief, who ran interference in her other cases.

But that doesn’t deter Isabel nor her mother Maria, her partner in solving crime. She just needs to find the source who will unlock this case.

Review

Isabel Long, a former reporter turned private investigator, solves cold cases in Rural New England. Author Joan Livingston depicts the setting well, and I got a good sense of the small town filled with characters with local knowledge and/or family ties and shared friendships. The current events are triggered when Isabel and her mother have a chance encounter with a homeless man outside a library while visiting the nearby town of Dillard.

The author drew on her experience as a journalist when creating the character of Isabel Long, who uses local knowledge to solve her cases. This current cold case presents lots of problems for Isabel. Forty years have passed since the murder, and many of the potential suspects and witnesses are dead. Cases don’t come much colder than this. A book of notes from the homeless man, however, adds credence to the PI’s ability to investigate the case by providing her with plenty of leads and suspects.

Some of the characters have been involved in Isabel’s previous cold cases, and these relationships are explained. While all the characters are strong, my favourite has to be Ma, Isabel’s 92-year-old mother. She is the Watson to Isabel’s Sherlock, and the pairing works well.

Although the story moves along at a good pace and flows smoothly, this is not a fast-paced read. There are a number of challenges involved in writing a series, particularly in providing a fresh plot with new ideas while keeping characters consistent and believable for readers. If the eighth book in the series is anything to go by, then the author has achieved this. I found Finding the Source to be a well-written and engaging mystery with a satisfying ending.

I haven’t read this author before and thought it might be difficult to start eight books in on the Isabel Long series, but I needn’t have worried; there are plenty of references to past cases and relationships to keep this as a stand-alone read. Having said this. I would have preferred to have read the previous books in order, and intend to.

About the Author

Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers, including the Isabel Long Mystery Series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England. Finding the Source is the eighth book in the series.

Joan draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist in Massachusetts and New Mexico to create Isabel Long, a sassy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appears to be impossible cases. She also relies on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts, where she lives, to create realistic characters and settings.