“The Bloody Shoe Affair” by Joy York

Two teenage girls in rural Mississippi set out on the adventure of finding out who has committed the most horrendous crime. Well, one of them is determined to uncover the truth, dragging the other one – often reluctant to follow, especially down to the basement of the old prison dungeon, at night – after her.

“The Bloody Shoe Affair” by Joy York introduces to the reader Lily and Christi, two fourteen-year-old cousins who couldn’t be more different. Lily is ‘I-get-what-I-want-from-everyone’ person. She pulls shy Christi into her misdemeanours, and usually gets away with them while Christi often ends up in an awkward situation. And yet, when Lily spills out the mysterious event she has just witnessed the moment Christi arrives for a visit, not letting her cousin have even a glass of water, let alone a proper lunch, Christi can’t resist the allure of unravelling the grim secret.

In this book, the fleur of the American South is mixed with the county jail’s routine, but the girls’ coming-of-age angst about love and boys with a murder investigation. I was totally captivated.

Lily lives in a jail. Not in a cell obviously, but since her father is a county jailer, her family resides in a house adjacent to the prison. The connection between the buildings is really intimate. You can get to the jail part simply by walking through Lily’s living room. Proper precaution measures are put in place of course, yet even a thick metal door is a feeble comfort if behind it people who committed crimes are permanently housed.

I won’t tell more not to spoil you the pleasure. The only thing I’ll say is that when Christi imagined this trip to Roselyn, Mississippi, to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of her grandparents, she wasn’t expecting what whirlwind of events – dangerous ones too! – she would be pulled in. Well, traipsing around the old prison dungeons used in the old times for who knows what hideous purposes isn’t something one plans to do in summer, right?

Not an ardent fan of books with teenage protagonists or murder mysteries, I was pulled into the story in “The Bloody Shoe Affair” and it was hard to put the book down. The unique and refreshing setting, with a list of delicious dishes typical for the region thrown in here and there, and the unfolding investigation where I couldn’t guess whodunit until the very last pages turned this book into a real bookish treat for me. I highly recommend it to genre lovers and those who aren’t into coming-of-age or murder mystery stories alike. I’m looking forward to reading book two of the series.