Columbus Author Sara Herchenroether Weaves a Compelling Murder Mystery in Her Debut Novel
Critic Scott Woods chooses ‘The Night Flowers’ as his favorite local book release of 2023.
It’s hard to write a mystery about a 30-year-old, triple-homicide cold case with real-time stakes, but Sara Herchenroether nails it with her debut novel, “The Night Flowers.” The Columbus author’s sleuths—a librarian fighting breast cancer and a police detective fighting retirement—join forces to uncover the names of several Jane Does found together in a New Mexico site. What could have easily fallen into a pedestrian conveyor belt of trips to libraries and scanning databases is upended by the inclusion of not only two compelling leads, but the just-out-of-sight presence of the victims’ ghosts. Ghost narrators aren’t new, but the way Herchenroether sparingly uses the device creates a tense countdown: What happens when you’ve staked out an afterlife paradise, but your killer may soon die and find it, too?
Laura McDonald is a convincing librarian who does more research outside of a library than in one. Sierra County detective Jean Martinez is a firm, driven woman of exceeding intelligence and grit. If I ever go missing, call these two immediately. I think they’d leave no stone unturned, but more, they care about the totality of their charges. It’s not enough to find a name. Families must be reconnected (even as they struggle to keep their own families intact), and, if they’re lucky, a killer might be brought to justice. I devoured this book and am exceedingly pleased that Columbus gets to add a new star to our literary firmament.
This story is from the January 2024 issue of Columbus Monthly.