A River Remembers: A Red River Murders Mystery

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Isabella Vienna

Lee Clark has spent years proving, across her beloved Matthew Paine Mystery series, that the classic murder mystery is very much alive and that the comparisons to Agatha Christie her readers keep reaching for are not hyperbole. A River Remembers introduces something new: a different kind of sleuth, a different corner of North Carolina, and the first chapter in what promises to be another compulsively readable series.

Tegan McFarland is a forensic entomologist, which is itself a quietly brilliant choice for a mystery protagonist. Her particular expertise, reading the insect evidence that most investigators don't know how to see, gives her a vantage point on death that is genuinely distinct from the detectives, lawyers, and amateur sleuths that populate most of the genre. Tegan notices what others miss not because she is smarter but because she is trained to look at things that make most people uncomfortable, and that quality turns out to be exactly what the Red River murders require.

Clark's particular gift, and it is one that the Christie comparison captures precisely, is her ability to build atmosphere and character with enough patience that the mystery itself feels grounded in a world that would exist whether or not a crime had been committed. The small southern North Carolina setting carries the same lived-in texture that has made her Matthew Paine novels feel like genuine communities rather than backdrop. When things go wrong in a Clark novel, they go wrong to people you have come to care about, which is what makes the stakes feel real.

The series origin story, Tegan as a child following flies to something dead in the woods, is a perfect encapsulation of who she is and why she matters. She has never been able to stand not knowing. That quality, equal parts gift and compulsion, is what makes her exactly the right person to untangle what the Red River is trying to say.

For fans of clean, character-driven mysteries with genuine atmosphere and a protagonist worth following for many books to come, this series is exactly the kind of discovery worth making early.

About the Author

Lee Clark

Lee Clark is a North Carolina native, originally from Raleigh, with family in Virginia as well. After working in the software technology industry for over 20 years, Clark decided it was time to pursue a true passion: fictional writing.

A self-confessed coffeeholic and chocoholic, Lee Clark still resides in North Carolina with spouse, two mostly grown children who are in and out, and a small petting zoo of dogs and cats.

Though the Matthew Paine character is fictional, he was inspired by two very important men in the author’s life, brother Sean and son Will. Both will see characteristics of themselves in the Matthew character and identify with some of his struggles.