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Live Free or Die
Life in tiny Winslow Falls, New Hampshire, is pretty darned good-until an arsonist decides to ruin everyone's Christmas. The way volunteer fire chief and local postmistress Gwen Fifield sees it, her life in rural New Hampshire is as good as it can be. Sure, she's gained twenty pounds, and her property taxes have skyrocketed, but her basement didn't flood this year, and the general store started delivering pizza. All things considered, Gwen's got no complaints ... that is, until she finds a body sizzled like a sausage in the smoldering remains of the Winslow Falls museum. When an artifact is traced to an immigrant family, most local residents are quick to blame the outsiders. But clues from the past convince Gwen that the town she's always trusted is harboring a home-grown murderer.
303 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 2010
106 people are currently reading
473 people want to read
About the author
Jessie Crockett
7 books135 followersA nearly life-long resident of the Granite State, Jessie naturally adores black flies, 98% humidity, killing frosts in August and snow banks taller than the average grandmother. When not working on her next murderous adventure she enthusiastically combs the beach, designs bento lunches and throws parties. She delights in mentoring young writers at local schools.
Her debut mystery, Live Free or Die, was the 2011 winner of the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Mainstream Mystery. Jessie lives with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children in a village so small most other New Hampshire residents have never heard of it. Hearing from readers makes the winter seem shorter so please drop her a line.
Her debut mystery, Live Free or Die, was the 2011 winner of the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Mainstream Mystery. Jessie lives with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children in a village so small most other New Hampshire residents have never heard of it. Hearing from readers makes the winter seem shorter so please drop her a line.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
April 29, 2013
I absolutely loved this book.I found the writing to be fantastic! Though I have never been to New England(though I am originally from the east coast)I felt as if I had been there before.The small New Hampshire town came alive with fun,quirky characters that I feel I have know my whole life.The back and forth dialog with the main character and her sister is hysterical as well as some of the town folk.This book has it all mystery,suspense,humor and even some very touching moments.Jessie Crockett did a superb job with this novel.It is a fun and easy read I know will go back to time and time again.I know I will also introduce it to my friends.This book will be a mainstay in my collection.
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August 6, 2025NH based
Small town. Arson. Murders. New arrivals “from away” or “home-grown” suspects. All tossed in the mix for a small town mystery.
Small town. Arson. Murders. New arrivals “from away” or “home-grown” suspects. All tossed in the mix for a small town mystery.
April 20, 2011
'Live Free or Die' was a nice cozy mystery read. The story wasn't great literature, but then a cozy usually isn't. The story was pleasant and not over taxing. Forty-seven year old Post Master/Fire chief Gwen was the main character. She lives in a small town called Winslow Falls in New Hampshire. Her life was pretty routine until one of her elderly friends was murdered and her body was left to burn in a museum. There's a potential love interest, a free spirited sister, and a bunch of old men with questionable hygiene. I may not read another book by Crockett, if I have to read about mucus or ear wax issues again. Just gross. The police chief, of course, is beyond incompetent. That allows Gwen to get more involved with the murder case. However I think Ray's ignorant and borderline abusive personality was too much. Other than the way law enforcement is depicted and the old guys' hygiene or lask there of, I liked the book.
April 11, 2011
You have to love a book where the main character is both over 40 and overweight. Gwen Fifield is a widow, the postmistress, and the assistant chief of the volunteer fire department in tiny Winslow Falls, New Hampshire. Christmas is approaching and there has been a rash of suspicious fires around the community culminating in the death of the curator of the local museum. Jessie Crockett completely nails life in a small town with its town characters and the "you don't have to mind your business, we'll mind it for you" attitude. Linking the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s with the current anti-immigrant attitudes of many Americans, Crockett has written an entertaining mystery that causes the reader to reflect on society's hostility towards individuals who are perceived as different.
June 26, 2012
Really good, clean, clever mystery. I never figured out all of it - which is a great thing for me! LOVED the characters in this town and wish I could have stayed longer! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE we need more like this for Kindle readers!
Some REALLY good quotes:
"Ethel didn't douse her cereal with the milk of human kindness"
"It isn't that small towns don't have arsonists and burglars and people who mess with kids. It's that we all know who they are and behave accordingly"
MY FAVORITE:
"Me, I'm more of a prude, and I've come to accept that. As far as I can tell there are no wild oats in my Quaker box."
And be sure to check out the interesting take on illegal aliens and the theory that they are trespassing - HYSTERICAL!
Some REALLY good quotes:
"Ethel didn't douse her cereal with the milk of human kindness"
"It isn't that small towns don't have arsonists and burglars and people who mess with kids. It's that we all know who they are and behave accordingly"
MY FAVORITE:
"Me, I'm more of a prude, and I've come to accept that. As far as I can tell there are no wild oats in my Quaker box."
And be sure to check out the interesting take on illegal aliens and the theory that they are trespassing - HYSTERICAL!
April 23, 2013
This is a great read. Crockett draws interesting characters in a small town and writes a story I did not want to put down.
September 21, 2016
Letto diverso tempo fa. Mi ricordo che mi era piaciuto e che avrei volentieri letto anche i seguiti, visto che era presentato come il primo di una serie, ma non mi risulta che sia mai uscito altro.
June 29, 2023
I came upon this mystery by accident a few years ago while searching for a John Ringo book with the same title and boy am I glad I did. The story is set in a small New England town where an elderly woman has just died in a fire at the town’s small museum. The question is: was the fire arson?
It turns out that there have been a spree of small fires in the town that have all been deemed accidental. But now, the Assistant Fire Chief (the actual fire chief had a heart attack when he saw the dead woman) is trying to figure out if there might have been something more to the mishaps. Add to the picture a family of immigrants from Brazil that many in the community think must be responsible for the fires because they are newcomers, and you have the makings of a nice little mystery. But that’s not what makes the story so good.
The heart of the tale is actually the town’s historical connection to the Know Nothing political party—a brief nineteenth century anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic political phenomenon that helped get Millard Fillmore elected president. And it’s the craft with which Crockett unravels this piece of history and connects it to the present-day events in the town which make this story so amazing.
It turns out that there have been a spree of small fires in the town that have all been deemed accidental. But now, the Assistant Fire Chief (the actual fire chief had a heart attack when he saw the dead woman) is trying to figure out if there might have been something more to the mishaps. Add to the picture a family of immigrants from Brazil that many in the community think must be responsible for the fires because they are newcomers, and you have the makings of a nice little mystery. But that’s not what makes the story so good.
The heart of the tale is actually the town’s historical connection to the Know Nothing political party—a brief nineteenth century anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic political phenomenon that helped get Millard Fillmore elected president. And it’s the craft with which Crockett unravels this piece of history and connects it to the present-day events in the town which make this story so amazing.
December 16, 2016
A string of fires in the village of Winslow Falls, New Hampshire, turns deadly when the body of Beulah Price is found in the town’s museum after it had burned. Volunteer fire chief Gwen Fifield finds herself teaming up with Hugh Larsen, the state’s arson investigator to figure out what is going on. The locals are ready to point the finger at the immigrant family in town, but Gwen suspects someone else is behind the crimes. Can she find out what is going on?
Having read Jessie’s other books, I had to go back and read her debut. While it was good, it needed more polish. Some of the characters tended to blend together, and I was really bothered by how all the villagers but Gwen treated the immigrant family. One scene introduces a sub-plot that is left hanging as well. However, the mystery itself was good and kept me turning pages. My irritants were all minor, and overall I did enjoy this book.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Having read Jessie’s other books, I had to go back and read her debut. While it was good, it needed more polish. Some of the characters tended to blend together, and I was really bothered by how all the villagers but Gwen treated the immigrant family. One scene introduces a sub-plot that is left hanging as well. However, the mystery itself was good and kept me turning pages. My irritants were all minor, and overall I did enjoy this book.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
May 2, 2021
It's always fund to read an authors first book, after you've read her other works, to see how it all began. I finally tracked down a copy of Live Free or Die and tore through it like a fire through dry brush! A tiny town in New Hampshire with it's own prejudices is the setting for our Postmistress/Acting Fire Chief heroine. She must solve the rash of fires, two murders and get all the packages and mail sorted for the Christmas season!
September 28, 2018
Read for a cross-country challenge - set in New Hampshire. Really quite good
September 22, 2021
A little simplistic but a very enjoyable cozy. I would definitely read more from this author.
August 12, 2022
Not my favorite read
I found it was a little difficult to get into at the beginning. It became more interesting as the storyline developed. Overall it was just an average read.
I found it was a little difficult to get into at the beginning. It became more interesting as the storyline developed. Overall it was just an average read.
April 19, 2013
A good book leaves me in a great mood, and a lousy one makes me grumpy. Today was a good day, and so were the hours, carefully stretched out, over the last week or so, when I was reading this wonderful little e-book. It was not a bundle book, it was one I paid for, and it was worth buying and then some.
If you have read my other reviews, you know I am a bit stingier than most with my five stars. If there are gaps in an otherwise enjoyable plot line, it's a four star review. This one earned all five of mine.
A mystery reader needs to feel comfortable with the characters and buy the premise before anything else is believable. Although I live in a major urban center and generally prefer mysteries set in big cities, Ms. Crocker managed to make me right at home in a tiny New Hampshire village, though I have never been to New England. She did this by forging common bonds--the target audience here is the female boomer, and I related to it well for that reason--and also by making the characters real enough, through narrative, dialogue, and above all consistency, that I could visualize them. I also related well to the thread woven into the story that champions the rights of immigrants. Like Ms. Crockett, I am married to a man who comes from another country, has darker skin than Caucasians, and has an accent. When her ignorant but otherwise mostly likable villagers started assuming that anything that went wrong should be chalked up to "those people", my dander went up exactly the way hers did.
This is not an adrenaline-rushing type of book, it is a cozy mystery. Not everyone in the story is a rocket scientist. At one point an out-of-town official asks her if she could imagine anyone stupid enough to kill someone as the victim is killed; she looks around at her hilariously drawn fellow citizens and says honestly, "Yes."
It's a crowded genre; nevertheless, I found myself chortling over the brand-new witticisms and turns of speech she brought into the story. Examples: "bacon fog", a "clinically depressed" couch, and a very funny scene featuring a disaster on a lawn festooned with lit-up plastic Christmas statues. (My husband shifted restlessly as the bed quietly quaked under my suppressed laughter.)
How does someone who is not a cop solve mysteries, particularly those related to murder? Those who have noted in other books that most are solved by police of some ilk (i.e., also fire chiefs, coast guard, forest rangers) are absolutely right. Hers works, though probably not for a series. As a single novel, the setting of a very small town where many of the second-in-command jobs are parceled out to hard-working volunteers, having this postmistress, who is forced to hear everyone's private business because she is a captive audience, worked really well. She is on the scene and volunteering in a hundred different ways because she has no personal life; her spouse is dead, her kids have flown.
*spoilers past here**
She sets up a different premise by the story's end that could conceivably offer her a back-door route to further adventures if she decides to do so.
If you have read my other reviews, you know I am a bit stingier than most with my five stars. If there are gaps in an otherwise enjoyable plot line, it's a four star review. This one earned all five of mine.
A mystery reader needs to feel comfortable with the characters and buy the premise before anything else is believable. Although I live in a major urban center and generally prefer mysteries set in big cities, Ms. Crocker managed to make me right at home in a tiny New Hampshire village, though I have never been to New England. She did this by forging common bonds--the target audience here is the female boomer, and I related to it well for that reason--and also by making the characters real enough, through narrative, dialogue, and above all consistency, that I could visualize them. I also related well to the thread woven into the story that champions the rights of immigrants. Like Ms. Crockett, I am married to a man who comes from another country, has darker skin than Caucasians, and has an accent. When her ignorant but otherwise mostly likable villagers started assuming that anything that went wrong should be chalked up to "those people", my dander went up exactly the way hers did.
This is not an adrenaline-rushing type of book, it is a cozy mystery. Not everyone in the story is a rocket scientist. At one point an out-of-town official asks her if she could imagine anyone stupid enough to kill someone as the victim is killed; she looks around at her hilariously drawn fellow citizens and says honestly, "Yes."
It's a crowded genre; nevertheless, I found myself chortling over the brand-new witticisms and turns of speech she brought into the story. Examples: "bacon fog", a "clinically depressed" couch, and a very funny scene featuring a disaster on a lawn festooned with lit-up plastic Christmas statues. (My husband shifted restlessly as the bed quietly quaked under my suppressed laughter.)
How does someone who is not a cop solve mysteries, particularly those related to murder? Those who have noted in other books that most are solved by police of some ilk (i.e., also fire chiefs, coast guard, forest rangers) are absolutely right. Hers works, though probably not for a series. As a single novel, the setting of a very small town where many of the second-in-command jobs are parceled out to hard-working volunteers, having this postmistress, who is forced to hear everyone's private business because she is a captive audience, worked really well. She is on the scene and volunteering in a hundred different ways because she has no personal life; her spouse is dead, her kids have flown.
*spoilers past here**
She sets up a different premise by the story's end that could conceivably offer her a back-door route to further adventures if she decides to do so.
June 5, 2012
Last night, late last night, I finished Live Free or Die—a Granite State Mystery by Jessie Crockett. I finished it late last night and not early this morning because there was no way I was going to bed until I had turned the last page.
Here’s my full disclosure before I go further: At the last Malice Domestic convention, Richard and I got to meet Jessie and her lovely husband Elias. And we were charmed. Seriously charmed. So charmed that it was with trepidation that I set myself down in my pug chair (one pug draped across the back of the chair, one pug on my lap) to read Jessie’s debut novel. Because what if I didn’t like it? What was I going to say? What was I going to write?
Crockett put my fears to rest at once. She opens with this line “Beulah Price’s body looked like a hotdog that had been left on the grill too long.” And we were off.
She gave me a cast of characters both loathsome and likeable. She made me change my mind about some of the loathsome ones and reassess my partiality to some of the good guys. Her romantic thread was made of good, cotton twill and not the flimsy spider stuff, and her heroine, Gwen Fifield, was not a karate-kicking Barbie, but a blood and guts (lots of guts)woman with real worries, failings and completely redeeming strengths.
Best of all, very best of all, is the delight Crockett takes in creating fabulous word pictures that more than once made me laugh out loud. Here’s just a taste:
“Clive Merrill wouldn’t hold a door open for his own elderly mother if she was holding the Christ child in one hand and the cure for AIDS in the other. Winston choked so hard on his coffee you would have thought the cup was full of fish bones.”
Now, see, that’s good writing. That told me so much in so little and gave me a brilliant, funny picture in my head. I love it when a writer does that—I’m jealous when a writer does that.
Crockett won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier award for Live Free or Die, so I’m not alone in my praise. Expect good things from this young writer—her next book is due in 2013 from Berkley Prime Crime.
Here’s my full disclosure before I go further: At the last Malice Domestic convention, Richard and I got to meet Jessie and her lovely husband Elias. And we were charmed. Seriously charmed. So charmed that it was with trepidation that I set myself down in my pug chair (one pug draped across the back of the chair, one pug on my lap) to read Jessie’s debut novel. Because what if I didn’t like it? What was I going to say? What was I going to write?
Crockett put my fears to rest at once. She opens with this line “Beulah Price’s body looked like a hotdog that had been left on the grill too long.” And we were off.
She gave me a cast of characters both loathsome and likeable. She made me change my mind about some of the loathsome ones and reassess my partiality to some of the good guys. Her romantic thread was made of good, cotton twill and not the flimsy spider stuff, and her heroine, Gwen Fifield, was not a karate-kicking Barbie, but a blood and guts (lots of guts)woman with real worries, failings and completely redeeming strengths.
Best of all, very best of all, is the delight Crockett takes in creating fabulous word pictures that more than once made me laugh out loud. Here’s just a taste:
“Clive Merrill wouldn’t hold a door open for his own elderly mother if she was holding the Christ child in one hand and the cure for AIDS in the other. Winston choked so hard on his coffee you would have thought the cup was full of fish bones.”
Now, see, that’s good writing. That told me so much in so little and gave me a brilliant, funny picture in my head. I love it when a writer does that—I’m jealous when a writer does that.
Crockett won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier award for Live Free or Die, so I’m not alone in my praise. Expect good things from this young writer—her next book is due in 2013 from Berkley Prime Crime.
March 22, 2013
Live Free or Die has been on my Kindle for awhile. It was a 99 cent score via Kindle mystery reads one night. One thing led to another and it ended up being buried in the list of to-be read titles.
I am glad that I bought it. It was a decent read. The book follows Gwen as Deputy Fire Chief / Postmistress as she uncovers the answer to who is setting fires in her small town and who killed two people heavily involved in the town's museum. Along the way, we meet her sister Augusta and a cast of characters who have revolting personal habits like picking ear wax and looking at it as well as blowing their nose and looking at the contents of their hankerchief.
YUM
There's also a potential love mistress for Gwen who I genuinely like. For 99 cents a book, I'd definitely want to read the rest of the series.
One thing I do want to comment on - the frumpiness of a lot of our cozy protagonists. Really? Can't people wear nice enough clothes? What's wrong with jeans and a cardigan? Does it always have to be stained and gross? No makeup. Bad hair-dos?
The one complaint I have with the book was that it was a very long time in resolving each of the different mysteries. The end took forever to conclude. First the fires, then the murders and then the aftermath of all of that.
I wanted the author to speed it up a little!
Other than that, the book was enjoyable and I really liked the setting.
I am glad that I bought it. It was a decent read. The book follows Gwen as Deputy Fire Chief / Postmistress as she uncovers the answer to who is setting fires in her small town and who killed two people heavily involved in the town's museum. Along the way, we meet her sister Augusta and a cast of characters who have revolting personal habits like picking ear wax and looking at it as well as blowing their nose and looking at the contents of their hankerchief.
YUM
There's also a potential love mistress for Gwen who I genuinely like. For 99 cents a book, I'd definitely want to read the rest of the series.
One thing I do want to comment on - the frumpiness of a lot of our cozy protagonists. Really? Can't people wear nice enough clothes? What's wrong with jeans and a cardigan? Does it always have to be stained and gross? No makeup. Bad hair-dos?
The one complaint I have with the book was that it was a very long time in resolving each of the different mysteries. The end took forever to conclude. First the fires, then the murders and then the aftermath of all of that.
I wanted the author to speed it up a little!
Other than that, the book was enjoyable and I really liked the setting.
November 8, 2013
Assistant fire chief/postmistress Gwen Fifield, the narrator of this novel, has an engaging voice that animates the story and holds the reader. The book is suffused with charm, personality, and a gentle humor that arises from the people and places described. As a native New Hampshirite, I can attest to the authenticity of the author's depiction of small town New Hampshire life. There is a strong sense of place in this novel, and I often found myself thinking, "Oh yeah; that's exactly what it's like." Whether describing a prisoner and guard playing cards in the police station (which was converted from a store), a Brazilian immigrant family living in a trailer, or the makeshift office at the town dump, Crockett's writing shows a knowledge and affection for her subject.
The actual details of the crimes and their resolution are perhaps not quite as compelling, the story perhaps flags a bit in the early stages, and some of the secondary characters might have been drawn with more detail, but the book held my interest and the narrator's voice and wit kept me reading. The contrasting personalities of Gwen and her more outgoing sister made for fun reading. Also, there's a romance developing between Gwen and a fire investigator as well, but that didn't interest me as much, perhaps because I'm a man.
Overall, a good read that could develop into a series.
The actual details of the crimes and their resolution are perhaps not quite as compelling, the story perhaps flags a bit in the early stages, and some of the secondary characters might have been drawn with more detail, but the book held my interest and the narrator's voice and wit kept me reading. The contrasting personalities of Gwen and her more outgoing sister made for fun reading. Also, there's a romance developing between Gwen and a fire investigator as well, but that didn't interest me as much, perhaps because I'm a man.
Overall, a good read that could develop into a series.
October 16, 2010
Gwen Field, Asst Fire Chief of Winslow Falls, NH, becomes the person in charge when the Chief suddenly has a heart attack at a fire when the body of a local is found burned. Enter Hugh Larsen from the Fire Marshall's Office sent up to investigate multiple fires in a small town within weeks.
I enjoyed the characters from a small town in NH/New England and the positions each have when the town is only under 500 people.
The plot is intriguing... who has been setting the fires and for what reasons? Is ithe Disilva sons? why not their imigrants from Brazil and everyone know immigrants are bad...... or are they? Is it a local? and if so, for what reasons?
A second body is found and near it a turned over kerosene heater by the body... was it an accident or murder? Related to the first? or not?
I enjoyed this 1st book of A Granite State Mystery and am waiting to read the second. Can't tell you everything.... is there romance? who did it? why? Hey the book and read to find out.Live Free or Die
I enjoyed the characters from a small town in NH/New England and the positions each have when the town is only under 500 people.
The plot is intriguing... who has been setting the fires and for what reasons? Is ithe Disilva sons? why not their imigrants from Brazil and everyone know immigrants are bad...... or are they? Is it a local? and if so, for what reasons?
A second body is found and near it a turned over kerosene heater by the body... was it an accident or murder? Related to the first? or not?
I enjoyed this 1st book of A Granite State Mystery and am waiting to read the second. Can't tell you everything.... is there romance? who did it? why? Hey the book and read to find out.Live Free or Die
March 8, 2011
Absolutely loved this book by up and coming author Jessie Crockett!
From the authors website:
The way she sees it, volunteer fire chief Gwen Fifield’s life is about as good as can be. Sure, she’s gained twenty pounds and her property taxes increased just in time for Christmas. But, her basement didn’t flood with the fall rains for the first time in years and the general store has started delivering pizza.
From me:
What a great book! Our heroine Gwen investigates a fire and death at the towns' museum only to suspect it might be arson and not an accident. The locals want to blame one family in town but Gwen doesn't think the family is really to blame and finds herself defending them against the small minded townspeople. In walks the hunky and single state fire marshall Hugh Larsen.
The characters are so well built and the original story line is terrific. Gwen and Hugh get wrapped in small town politics, all the while slowly falling for each other. There is romance, mystery, a number of twists and turns, and overall, an extremely enjoyable book.
From the authors website:
The way she sees it, volunteer fire chief Gwen Fifield’s life is about as good as can be. Sure, she’s gained twenty pounds and her property taxes increased just in time for Christmas. But, her basement didn’t flood with the fall rains for the first time in years and the general store has started delivering pizza.
From me:
What a great book! Our heroine Gwen investigates a fire and death at the towns' museum only to suspect it might be arson and not an accident. The locals want to blame one family in town but Gwen doesn't think the family is really to blame and finds herself defending them against the small minded townspeople. In walks the hunky and single state fire marshall Hugh Larsen.
The characters are so well built and the original story line is terrific. Gwen and Hugh get wrapped in small town politics, all the while slowly falling for each other. There is romance, mystery, a number of twists and turns, and overall, an extremely enjoyable book.
October 4, 2010
First, let me disclose I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway. With that out in the open, I still loved this book. Live Free or Die reminded me of the first works of my favorite authors, Steve Hamilton, PJ Parrish and Tess Gerritsen-a little wobbly and trying to find its’ place in literature, but still fantastic. My favorite part of the book was Gwen Fifield, who lives in the rural town of Winslow Falls, New Hampshire town. I live in a town of 400, and trust me; Ms. Crockett describes rural life and gossip with some fantastic one liners filled sarcasm and humor, so I found myself laughing out loud at the characters and Gwen’s response to them frequently. I could easily see this character continuing on in a series, all three authors managed this without a flaw, especially Steve Hamilton’s, Alex McKnight, whose escapades take him all over the Michigan U.P. and Canada, and I would be the first stalking her website for new releases!
March 9, 2016
Winslow Falls is every small town in New Hampshire, filled with all the characters you could meet on the streets, in the shops, and just passing through. As deputy fire chief, the last thing Gwen expects to be put in charge of is a murder investigation. But, dressed in her sushi pajamas, that’s exactly where she finds herself.
As the snow piles up and Christmas speeds along like a sled on an ice hill, she has to poke her nose into everyone’s lives to try to figure out what’s going on. In a town where everyone knows everything about everyone, but that no one wants anyone to uncover their secrets, it’s not something that wins her any brownie points with the locals.
Overwhelmed with her sister’s arrival, faced with more fires, a state fire marshal with hair as red as the fires that have been plaguing the town, it’s all Gwen can do to wrap everything up with enough time to wrap some presents.
http://www.theconcordinsider.com/arti...
As the snow piles up and Christmas speeds along like a sled on an ice hill, she has to poke her nose into everyone’s lives to try to figure out what’s going on. In a town where everyone knows everything about everyone, but that no one wants anyone to uncover their secrets, it’s not something that wins her any brownie points with the locals.
Overwhelmed with her sister’s arrival, faced with more fires, a state fire marshal with hair as red as the fires that have been plaguing the town, it’s all Gwen can do to wrap everything up with enough time to wrap some presents.
http://www.theconcordinsider.com/arti...
September 29, 2010
About halfway through so far. These characters are too funny! Jessie Crockett describes them so clearly it feels like you are watching them in front of you.
First Reads-thank you. This was a great mystery. First of all, the characters kept me highly entertained. I have not come across a lot of main characters in Gwen's age brackett and it was refreshing. She felt and looked as rundown as the rest of us often get, but still managed to have a few sparks with a love interest of sorts.
When you've read well more than 1000 books, you often can solve the mystery way before the end of the book and what fun is that? With this book, I was solving the case right along with the characters and stayed interested through the whole book.
I will definitely check out any more books from this author and recommend Live Free or Die to anyone.
First Reads-thank you. This was a great mystery. First of all, the characters kept me highly entertained. I have not come across a lot of main characters in Gwen's age brackett and it was refreshing. She felt and looked as rundown as the rest of us often get, but still managed to have a few sparks with a love interest of sorts.
When you've read well more than 1000 books, you often can solve the mystery way before the end of the book and what fun is that? With this book, I was solving the case right along with the characters and stayed interested through the whole book.
I will definitely check out any more books from this author and recommend Live Free or Die to anyone.
August 29, 2011
This mystery plunges right in, with a fire, a body and a refreshingly original protagonist.
Gwen Fifield is assistant chief of the volunteer fire department in her small New Hampshire village. It falls to her to determine who set the fire that killed the elderly head of the local history museum. Evidence – and community sentiment – points to a young teenage immigrant, but Gwen’s not convinced. The more she investigates, the more threats she encounters.
Scenes are highly visual and plotting and pacing are good throughout. Several laugh-out-loud lines provided a bonus. The scene with the frozen peas is a delight. A ruggedly attractive state fire marshal adds to the fun without detracting from the mystery.
Although this is Jessie Crockett’s first published novel (one of my finds from Kindle-ing) she writes like a pro. I’m looking forward to her next book.
Gwen Fifield is assistant chief of the volunteer fire department in her small New Hampshire village. It falls to her to determine who set the fire that killed the elderly head of the local history museum. Evidence – and community sentiment – points to a young teenage immigrant, but Gwen’s not convinced. The more she investigates, the more threats she encounters.
Scenes are highly visual and plotting and pacing are good throughout. Several laugh-out-loud lines provided a bonus. The scene with the frozen peas is a delight. A ruggedly attractive state fire marshal adds to the fun without detracting from the mystery.
Although this is Jessie Crockett’s first published novel (one of my finds from Kindle-ing) she writes like a pro. I’m looking forward to her next book.
October 5, 2010
I just finished Live Free or Die, which I won through the Goodreads Giveaway program and I really enjoyed it.
The characters were interesting and reasonably well developed with a few eccentrics to add color and a chuckle or two. Crockett captured the atmosphere and interactions in a small town very nicely and the mystery was complex with a believable resolution. I did have it partially figured out but not completely so I was hooked all the way to the end. Gwen and Hugh make an interesting couple (is Hugh really 7 ft tall ! ) and I will watch for more adventures in Winslow Falls.
The characters were interesting and reasonably well developed with a few eccentrics to add color and a chuckle or two. Crockett captured the atmosphere and interactions in a small town very nicely and the mystery was complex with a believable resolution. I did have it partially figured out but not completely so I was hooked all the way to the end. Gwen and Hugh make an interesting couple (is Hugh really 7 ft tall ! ) and I will watch for more adventures in Winslow Falls.
December 14, 2010
I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway on 11/19/2010 and received my book on 11/30/2010.
This is my first Jessie Crockett novel, but not my last! The way that she describes things makes me laugh each time. It is almost like she has a bucket on her desk with random descriptive words and then just pulls a couple out when she needs inspiration - they are wacky and completely hilarious!
Getting to the meat of things, this is a really great novel, VERY easy to read - I became really attatched to the characters because of the way that she decribes them and how they interact with each other in Live Free or Die.
I would definately go out and buy this novel, worth the money and I'll bet you'll find a new author that you can't live without, just like I did!
This is my first Jessie Crockett novel, but not my last! The way that she describes things makes me laugh each time. It is almost like she has a bucket on her desk with random descriptive words and then just pulls a couple out when she needs inspiration - they are wacky and completely hilarious!
Getting to the meat of things, this is a really great novel, VERY easy to read - I became really attatched to the characters because of the way that she decribes them and how they interact with each other in Live Free or Die.
I would definately go out and buy this novel, worth the money and I'll bet you'll find a new author that you can't live without, just like I did!
April 4, 2011
Jessie Crockett captured at least some of the New Hampshire experience. I live in Maryland now, but three years ago I moved here from New Hampshire. The state's people are independent-minded and proud of it. Ms. Crockett includes characters who are deeply suspicious of a Brazilian family who moved into their town. I didn't see such xenophobia in the approximate eight years I lived there, but I was from "away" and may not have been privy to bald-faced prejudice.
Overall, the book's pacing is good. The story is good. The setting is true to life (although the constant repeating of some characters' xenophobia got old). A very good debut novel.
Overall, the book's pacing is good. The story is good. The setting is true to life (although the constant repeating of some characters' xenophobia got old). A very good debut novel.
November 16, 2012
The things I like about this book is that everything is covered in great detail, and explained very well. You understand what is going on in the lives of the people in the small town. There is a budding romance and a mystery.
Things I didn't like as much. Budding romance fizzles that whole book and then nothing. Just when you think she is going to move on from her husbands death, the book ends.
The book drags a little in the middle but moves enough to keep your interest. It was well written and easy to follow.
Things I didn't like as much. Budding romance fizzles that whole book and then nothing. Just when you think she is going to move on from her husbands death, the book ends.
The book drags a little in the middle but moves enough to keep your interest. It was well written and easy to follow.
October 6, 2010
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway! It was my first first-read, and I must say I was very nervous and feeling some pressure to like the book so I could write a good review. In the end, I didn't have to worry - I did like the book and I like most of the characters. There were a few surprise elements that I would not have guessed, which is always a plus. I would read more from this author.
January 17, 2011
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a hoot. The descriptions of a small NH town could be anywhere. The characters ring so true - similar to people plus just a step more. I think one of my favorite scenes was when she completely destroyed the decorated front yard when she slipped on her crutches. Gwen is a quintessential New Hampshire"ite" with her curiosity and understanding of the people in a small town... I found myself cheering for her!
July 29, 2011
Having grown up in a small town in the Catskills, I appreciated the way Crockett captured the characters and the feel of a place where everyone knows everyone. The book has a fairly light tone and many humorous moments and turns of phrase, but along with the heavy topics of murder, arson, and greed, it also deals with attitudes toward those who come to this country seeking a better life.
A great read for the price.
A great read for the price.
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