Murder on Birchardville Hill, by Ruth Buchanan (Harbourlight Books, 2017)

Crime podcaster Morgan Scott has a successful online career (complete with crazy stalker and an incarcerated murderer who has vowed revenge) but she doesn’t have many in-person friends.

Sitting home alone over the Christmas holidays would just give her time to brood about her enemies, so she decides to follow up on an old murder in a town so remote that it’s barely marked on the map: Birchardville, Pennsylvania.

Her life in Florida has not prepared her for winter with actual snow. And while Birchardville may be remote, danger still finds her there.

I liked the fact that Morgan is Asian-American (her birth name is Chen Meifeng). This doesn’t factor much into the story, but it’s nice to see a protagonist who’s not your standard Caucasian.

What does factor in is her independent, self-reliant, sometimes-funny personality. And as one Birchardville resident says, she’s “theologically sound.”

I enjoyed the author’s voice in this story, and will be looking for more of her books.

For more about Ruth Buchanan and her books, visit ruthbuchananauthor.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]