Silence Says the Most: An Olivia Penn Mystery

Having read the first book in the Olivia Penn Mystery Series, Where the Light Shines Through, I was delighted to receive a copy of the second installment in the series, Silence Says the Most. The reader follows along as the main character, journalist Olivia Penn, finds herself in the middle of another murder in her hometown of Apple Station. I loved being reunited with Olivia’s best friends, A.J., Tori, Sophia, and of course, her dad Bill and his loveable beagle Buddy. There are some new characters in this book who give the book some new flavor. Kevin is a Park Ranger. His brother Chris and Chris’ fiancee, Jenn, are also new on the scene. Their family owns Fields Farm, an organic farm. There is also a scruffy, shady guy named Jason and a woman named Melissa who has an autistic son. When Olivia goes to Crystal Lake one afternoon, she finds a worker from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality dead in the water. This definitely seems like foul play, and although Olivia wants nothing to do with it initially, she gets sucked in by local editor Ellen to try and get the scoop on what happened.

Silence Says the Most is well written, just like its predecessor, and I felt like I was at home again in the small town of Apple Station. Olivia is a fantastic main character who is smart, witty, and curious. She finds herself in hot water with law enforcement a few times, yet again in this book, for asking one too many questions.

This book reads well as a standalone, and one would eventually catch on to the fact that Olivia’s friend, Paige, was killed not long ago. Silence Says the Most has a great twist at the end of the book that I wasn’t able to guess, but that made complete and total sense. I really enjoyed the easy flow of the story and the way the author connects the dots little by little. The story never gets boring, it just gets better. The witty banter between the characters is also light-hearted and a fun experience. I would recommend this book to fans of light mysteries and cozies. You just can’t beat a small town with its small-town mysteries and small-town characters! I am patiently waiting for the third book in the series.