Knife River

Champine’s tense debut opens as a group of children in a small, Upstate New York town discover a human skull while playing outside. When police investigate, they realize the children have found the body of Natalie Fairchild, a young mother who disappeared 15 years ago, leaving her daughters, Jess and Liz, behind. Younger sister Jess moved away as soon as she could, but Liz is still living in their childhood home, unable to move forward. When Liz tells Jess the awful news, Jess moves back home to be with her sister and unravel the mystery of their mother’s death. As the sisters repair their relationship with each other, they begin to heal themselves as well. Jess reignites a relationship with a high school girlfriend, and Liz finally is able to move ahead with her life. Jennifer Pickens narrates this slow-burn mystery (BISAC’ed as family life fiction), which is filled with finely drawn observations and realistic, multi-dimensional characters. Pickens’s performance is infused with a tone of muted sadness and dry wit that beautifully complements the material.