This is the 2nd book in the Series, and the first book I read and had no trouble getting into the story, it does want me to read book 1!
All seems well in Coffin Cove, they are over the excitement of a murder last year but the disappearance of the “no good” son of the mayor 9 months ago still seems to simmer. Andi promises the Mayor’s wife that she will keep looking into her son disappearance.
An election gives a new mayor, and a vision for Coffin Cove, it starts off with a festival, the new museum curator gets a ‘legend’ of why the town is called Coffin Cove and this stars a little field trip, which ends up with the finding of a decomposed body. Is it the old mayor’s son, what other secrets does the town hold.
Great book, and look forward to seeing the characters grown in the next book. Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an early read in exchange for my opinion.

This is book 2 in the Coffin Cove Mysteries series and although it does work well as stand alone I would recommend you reading book 1 first to get to know the characters.

The story begins with a group of boys 'hunting' another boy. The significance of this event doesn't become clear until later in the book.

Andi is recovering from being shot and is not officially back at work when she is asked, by Sandra Havers, to investigate the disappearance of her son, Ricky. Ricky has been missing for some time but he is an adult so although the RCMP had gone through the motions of investigating the general opinion was that he had chosen to leave Coffin Cove and was living a life elsewhere.

Clara and Kate are looking for interesting historical sites for the Heritage event and go in search of the ruins of an old Chapel deep in the wilderness. They find much more than they were looking for as a skeleton is uncovered. This sets in motion a series of events that will affect everyone in Coffin Cove.

This is a very intriguing story that had me hooked from the very beginning. Secrets, drugs, bullying, revenge, love and hate all play a part and there are many red herrings along the way as Andi and Andrew try to uncover the many secrets hidden. Secrets the residents of Coffin Cove want to keep hidden.

The characters are realistic and intriguing and the potential is there to develop them further despite growing over the course of the first 2 books.

An excellent read and very much looking forward to more in this series.

Thank you to the author and Joffe Books for the advance copy.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Hell’s Half Acre, the second novel to feature reporter Andi Silvers, set in the fictional small town of Coffin Cove on Vancouver Island.

When human remains are found at the site of an abandoned chapel it becomes clear that they are Ricky Havers, son of the former mayor, who went missing nine months earlier. Andi was sure at the time that there was more to Ricky’s disappearance and has been quietly investigating since then. Now, the discovery of his remains has set off a crime spree in the town.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hell’s Half Acre, which is an absorbing read with a plot that stretches back into the past and a web of interconnected intrigue. It is told mostly from the investigative point of view, be it Andi, her boss Jim, or Inspector Andrew Vega of the RCMP. Other characters contribute to widen the reader’s perspective but the killer and the motive remain obscure for much of the novel.

I found the plot quite compulsive as it weaves together a narrative of past misdeeds, speculation about current wrongdoing and plenty of motives. It seems to give and then take away on a regular basis as just when I’d settled on a possibility the author would introduce a twist or move the goalposts and it was back to more brain work. It certainly held my attention and I was glued to the pages. I was slightly disappointed by the ending as it didn’t include a full reckoning of events, just some wild statements that left much to the reader’s imagination. I like my plots fully explained because I don’t have much imagination.

After two novels I’m coming to love Coffin Cove and its quirky inhabitants. Andi Silvers is a troubled young woman who has found a modicum of stability there and the sudden crime wave gives her the opportunity to exert her considerable journalistic talents for the good of the community.

Hell’s Half Acre is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Feisty reporter Andi Silvers is back in Hell’s Half Acre, the second in Jackie Elliot’s excellent Coffin Cove series. While recovering from a gunshot wound, Andi has been working on a cold case, the disappearance of Ricky Havers, the son of Dennis Havers, Coffin Coves’s former mayor. His mother Susan has never believed that Ricky left town on his own and, sadly she is proved right when Ricky’s skull is discovered buried near an old chapel.

Coffin Cove is on the verge of renewal. Plans have been made to revitalize the downtown waterfront, the old town museum is being modernized and tours of the area’s historic sites are planned. Jade Thompson is the new mayor and has begun to change some of the questionable decisions made by her predecessor, Dennis Havers. However, in Coffin Cove’s murky past, there were bikers, gangs, drugs and murder. Ricky’s body won’t be the last one found before a mystery from the bad old days is solved.

Once again, Jackie Elliot has delivered a perfect thriller that pulls you in from the first chapter. The town of Coffin Cove on Vancouver Island, with its atmospheric, haunting setting, is a character by itself. Andi has settled in to her new home and is dealing with her attraction to two very different men. Matt Beaufort and Katie Dagg are new characters that I hope to see more of. 5 stars and I’m waiting eagerly for the next in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Joffe Books and Jackie Elliot for this ARC.

Coffin Cove was a stunning debut and I waited with anticipation to see what Jackie Elliott would write next. I didn't get too excited because many authors struggle with their second book. I soon had to rebuke myself with a stern 'O ye of little faith'!
This is again an utterly compulsive read with masterfully drawn characters in a complex plot that has more twists and turns than Hampton Court Maze. Disturbingly real, highly clever and breathtakingly satisfying.
Jackie Elliott is a rising star on the crime fiction scene. Now she is being nurtured and published by the excellent Joffe Books greatness and bestsellerdom is surely in her grasp