Solid Sophomore Southern Suspense. This is a tale that builds on its predecessor, Broken Bayou, in an unexpected direction for readers of Broken Bayou – one of the secondary, yet essential, characters gets her own tale here. Which would be expected in the romance genre, but in mystery/ suspense is far less common.
And yet Moorhead absolutely makes this work. There’s enough of the Bayou here that there are at least a few spoilers from that book, but not so much that you absolutely *have* to have read it first, and thus new readers (who don’t mind a few minor ish spoilers) can come into this book without stressing about not having read Bayou first. (Though you *should* read Bayou too, as it is an excellent tale in its own right.)
Yet there is also quite the tale to be told here, and as deep as Willa’s tale was in the Bayou… this tale may even run a touch deeper. It certainly expands its world a touch, if only in that certain players have larger connections than just Ms. Meade’s home town. And yet as someone who grew up in and around similar connections – which I can’t really detail at all without revealing who some of the players in this tale are – this struck me as perhaps a touch *too* real in some aspects. Clearly, Moorhead has some similar life experiences of her own to get it *this* spot on.
Truly an excellent small town Southern mystery tale that manages to raise a lot of real world emotions without ever getting preachy about any actual real world issue, which is perhaps one of Moorhead’s great strengths as a storyteller, at least as shown in this series.
Very much recommended.
This review of Poison Wood by Jennifer Moorhead was originally written on November 2, 2025.
