The Sins of Summer Daughters by Lo Patrick ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

A new searing Southern mystery from acclaimed author Lo Patrick. When her granddaughter is accused of murder, a woman must confront the buried secrets of a summer long past—because she can try to forget, but the Georgia land remembers.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  A free book was provided for an honest review.

July 2026; Sourcebooks Landmark; 978-1464260506
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); Southern fiction

The Sins of Summer Daughters is a slow-moving character study of four generations of Southern women in a small hardscrabble town in Georgia.  The women’s lives are dictated by their poor economic circumstances as well as by poor parenting from the previous generations who just don’t know how to parent effectively.  Tuskin is a small, barren town in Georgia, but like many Southern towns, people never forget the past. 

THE STORY

Meg is the second generation and the main character of the novel.  Her mother was a stripper who frequently left her alone to take care of herself.  She dropped out of school at a young age and didn’t have much ambition in life.  She had a relationship with a young man that totally changed the trajectory of her life, and she escaped by getting married and moving to Atlanta.  

After her daughter was born and her marriage ended, she moved back to Tuskin.  She always felt that she was a poor mother.  She was so busy fighting with her own memories of her younger years that she just wasn’t able to properly raise her daughter.  When her granddaughter Lucy was born, she was finally able to feel real love, and Lucy was the light of her life.  

The story begins when Lucy, now a teenager, is accused of murdering her boyfriend.  Meg knows that there is no way that her gentle granddaughter could commit murder and starts searching for clues to prove her innocence.  As she works to help her granddaughter, it brings back many memories from her teenage years, and she spends a lot of time trying to understand what really happened to her back then and if anyone is really innocent in the deaths of two boys in two different generations.  

The book asks the main question of whether fractured relationships between mothers and daughters can ever be repaired.

THE VERDICT

I’ve read other books by this author, and this one is not one of my favorites by her.  I didn’t really like or trust Meg, and some of the secondary characters could have been explained more.  One thing that I did like is that the location in Georgia is a major part of the story and so well described that it is clear in your mind.  Location being part of the story is definitely part of Southern fiction, and the author did a great job of highlighting the importance of her location.

Buy The Sins of Southern Daughters at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.

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