Staff Picks: Jessica's August Pick

Jessica's August Pick: Indie Darling by Lauren Nosset

As a person who now calls East Tennessee home, Dolly Parton holds a little piece of my heart. So when Lauren said the female main character of Indie Darling is a Dolly-loving private investigator living in Nashville, I said that’s all I need to know! I’m in! You guys, I absolutely ate this one up! It is ridiculously good and if I influence you to read just one book this year, please let it be this one! This is not just a murder mystery. You can tell Lauren put her entire heart and soul into each word of this novel. The characters are complicated and interwoven and perfectly real. There are twists I didn’t see coming and I even shed a few tears towards the end. Especially the author’s note. Don’t skip that when you get to it!

Kelly Williams, private investigator, is hired by Sarah Owens to help identify her stalker. Sarah just so happens to be the lead singer of an up-and-coming all girl indie rock band and her lyrics mean more to her than anything. I had to stop in the middle of this book and message Lauren to ask about her writing process for the songs because they’re beautiful! I would kill for a Seraph and the Garden Snakes album right about now! Seraph’s lyrics and her stage presence are hypnotizing on paper, I can’t imagine how electric she’d be in real life.

Anyway...during a huge performance, Sarah gets shot on stage and then the ambulance carrying her goes missing! Kelly's job just got a whole lot harder. She has to wade through conspiracy theories, reeling fans, and long-buried secrets to find the truth of what happened to Sarah and why. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and didn't want to put this one down!

Come check this one out today at the Kingston Public Library!