Double Wide (A Davis Way Crime Caper)
By Gretchen Archer
Rating: 5/5 Stairs
Which starts like this:
Biloxi Police Ask for Help Locating Missing Women
Biloxi Police have released the name of one of three women believed to have been abducted earlier today from Golden Oaks Golf Club, the eighteen-hole par-72 championship course owned and operated by the Bellissimo Resort and Casino. Authorities spoke to Clifton Estrada, Golden Oaks Club Manager, who positively identified one of the women as forty-five-year-old Bianca Casimiro Sanders, wife of Bellissimo owner Richard Sanders, “There isn’t a double in my mind it was Bianca Sanders,” Estrada said. “It’s not like there’s two of her.”
Double Wide
From my post on Instagram:
This is one of my favorite series, and it’s always a pleasure to dive into Davis Way’s latest adventure. This is the 10th in the series, but written completely differently from Ms. Archer’s usual style. Plot-wise, I don’t want to give much away – Super-spy Davis Way is kidnapped with two other women while on one of her many outings doubling as Bianca Sanders, the wife of the Bellissimo Casino owner.
The narrative flows through a series of letters, emails, and newspaper articles. Usually the Davis Way mysteries are told just through Davis’ perspective – it was fun to get her perspective through letters to her husband Bradley, and also have other character’s voices pick up the tale in their hunt for the three kidnapped women. I think my favorite secondary voice was the emails from Baylor, I loved getting more insight into his character and thought process.
As you read, it really does feel like several people authored this book, the writing style is so different between all the characters. It took me a bit to get used to the unusual format, but once I did it was a fun ride! There is a lot going on, and everything comes together beautifully.
As always, Double Wide is full of humor, a few hijinks, and lots of heart. Can’t wait for book #11!
Hidden Staircase 
Thank you so much, Hidden Staircase! My favorite of all your wonderful observations? It felt like several people authored the book. It was so much fun (and unbelievably challenging) to tell the story through multiple cameras rather than a single lens. I’ve always wanted to write an epistolary and here she is.
I appreciate you so much. 🙂
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It just amazes me how you were able to write in so many different voices! I mean, it’s one thing (I think?) to write dialog for a character throughout a novel. It’s another to write from that character’s entire perspective. I think Tiffannee would have been the hardest for me to write consistently and not break from her voice. It was fantastic!!
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