Challenge for Two starts out charming, as the town of Washita awakens tender feelings for the Parkers, who have suffered a great deal, including Katie’s breast cancer and Dave’s stressful career leading up to retirement. But it quickly becomes obvious that things aren’t what they seem: Washita isn’t the haven they expected, as it’s plagued by warnings about missing people, high crime, and the powerful McReady family calling the shots. There’s tension in the Parkers’s marriage as their chaotic past and uncertain future cause several squabbles, with Katie’s insecurity and Dave’s disinterest playing a role in those dynamics.

Despite an edgy setup, the novel falls short on tension, choosing to spotlight the nuances of the Parkers’s marital discord over the story’s shrouded mysteries. The 1949 mill strike is vividly wrought—dangerous conditions, abysmal pay, and the ever-looming threat of accidents make for a combustible outcome—and Washita comes alive, with quaint shopping districts and wistful, early-evening sunsets that serve as a winsome counterpart to the Parkers’s lush, but haunting, new digs. Despite their best intentions, the Parkers never seem to be on the same team, though their experiences in Washita fling them into a kind of mutually shared chaos, prompting them, by the story’s end, to treat their restlessness with warm regard instead of as an ominous warning.

Takeaway: Struggling married couple solves decades-old crimes in a seemingly idyllic town.

Comparable Titles: Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series; Sheila Connolly’s The Secret Staircase.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A