Before She Was Helen

by Caroline B. Cooney

Paperback, 2021

Call number

MYST COO

Collection

Genres

Publication

Poisoned Pen Press (2021), 400 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVEL "As Before She Was Helen opens, readers are drawn into what appears to be a light, retirement-community caper. But author Caroline B. Cooney quickly flips expectations upside-down in this deceptively dark mystery. Between old crimes and fresh murders, septuagenarian protagonist Clemmie faces an unspeakable fear that will keep readers hooked in this twisty whodunit."â??Julie Hyzy, New York Times bestselling author From the critically acclaimed, international bestselling author Caroline B. Cooney comes a domestic thriller perfect for fans of mystery books by Laura Lippman and Alice Feeney. Her life didn't turn out the way she expectedâ??so she made herself a new one When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn't there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture? And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body. . . and she was the last person at the crime scene, where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly thrown into the heart of a twisted investigation, Clemmie finds herself the uncomfortable subject of intense scrutiny. And the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present. From international bestselling author of The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline B. Cooney comes Before She Was Helen, an absorbing mystery that brings decades-old secrets to life and explores what happens when the lie you've been living falls apart and you're forced to confront the truth.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member readinggeek451
Cooney is well-known for her YA books, which are variously horror, suspense, disaster stories, and teenage-slice-of-life. Before She Was Helen is an adult novel, I believe her first, and it doesn't quite work. It structured like suspense, with parallel storylines in the present day and the 1950s,
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but the suspense falls flat. And the characterizations aren't deep enough for a slice of life story. It isn't bad, but it just isn't that engaging.
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LibraryThing member fredreeca
Helen finds a unique sculpture in her neighbors house…a house she is not supposed to be in. This sculpture leads to a death and a possible drug deal in her retirement community. Plus, Helen has a secret or two or three of her own. These are secrets she has kept well hidden for years but now,
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these secrets are coming back to haunt her.

Oh boy…did I love Clemmie or rather Helen…her alias. Yep…you heard right. She has a secret life and you just have to hear her story as to why and how she ended up as Helen. She is a great person and she has been through so much. And now it is all threatened. And then the story twists again. How much more can the reader take! I was stressed to the max reading this tale!

This story just reels you in. And honestly, I kept guessing and just plain guessing wrong! I love that! I love an author which keeps me on my toes and this one surely did!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
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LibraryThing member SilversReviews
How could being a good samaritan and checking on your neighbor turn into a disaster even though Helen was used to being helpful as well as having disasters in her life?

Helen didn't hear from her neighbor Dom which was unusual since he texted her every morning to let her know he was ok.

Today when
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she checked on him, he wasn't there, but then she found a secret door between his garage and the other neighbor.

Finding that door was a big mistake...it led to finding something she didn't want to be involved in and something she never knew was going on in her quiet retirement community.

She also should have never mentioned what she found to her nephew who actually got her in a predicament that “blew up” because he posted it on social media.

If that wasn’t enough trouble for her....her neighbor’s nephew was murdered.

BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN pulled me in because of Helen.

I really liked Helen and felt sorry for her especially since her secrets might get out after all of these years and because she had a terrible childhood filled with guilt and bad memories.

That's why she created another persona in the first place....she used to be Clemmie. She had to hide her secrets and her past.

The story line flowed beautifully, and this book is filled with regrets, lovable, quirky retired characters, fun, and a murder to solve. It is difficult to figure out who the murderer is because it could be any number of people.

If you need something different as well as enjoyable, BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN should be your next read because you never know what goes on in a retirement community. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member PaperDollLady
BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN is a story about double idenity. Helen, living in a retirement community in SC, used to be Clemmie. There's a good reason she assumed a second idenity many years ago. It involves a cold case and personal trama. But now at 70-something she stumbles on another crime, and it has
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led to murder. So this is a double puzzle to be solved. The storyline line flips from past Clemmie (her much younger self) to Helen (her current adult self). So, a crime from the past, but also one in the present. The whole tale is set off when Helen first takes and then posts a picture on social media of a (unbeknowst to her) stolen item--no spoiler here since it happens very early-on. I really liked the uniqueness of this premise to start events rolling, causing me to bump it up to four stars. Although Helen/Clemmie is the protagonist, there are many secondary characters, who add some humor to the story. Still, the crime from the past is very serious subject matter indeed, and there's a fair amount implied about the unfair "norms"of a bygone era. The flipping back and forth of time periods and many characters, at times, felt a bit muddled; however, the puzzle pieces of the past and present crimes eventually do fit in place for a suitable and amicable conclusion.
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LibraryThing member SquirrelHead
The story unfolds at a retirement commmunity in North Carolina and Helen is our main character. Helen is not her real name so you will read about "Clemmie" and realize Helen is an assumed identity, one she has had for decades. Hence the title Before She Was Helen.

Something traumatic happened to
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Clemmie years ago and she went into hiding, hoping her past would remain hidden. There are some sad stories in this narrative and while I love a mystery, this one was a bit too much on the cozy mystery genre for me. It's a good storyline and if you have patience with the over 55 community and the geriatric issues of physical health and conversations, you may like this mystery.
Publication date was May 4, 2021 by Random House - Ballentine. Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.
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LibraryThing member carole888fort
You might think that Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney, which takes place in a retirement community , is a cozy mystery but cozy it is not. This is the story of the two lives of one woman. Helen lives in a villa in Sun City in South Carolina. She has made a life for herself, enjoying the
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lifestyle and making new friends. She has left her past behind because it was a horrible past. The novel alternates between Helen’s life in the present and her life fifty years ago. When her past threatens to ruin her quiet retirement, she finds herself trying to avoid the unsavoury people who persistently stand in the way of her anonymity. There is a diverse and interesting cast of characters and the plot contains numerous mysteries and these will keep the reader guessing. This is a well-written mystery with plenty of suspense throughout. I look forward to reading more books by Caroline B. Cooney. Highly recommended. Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
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LibraryThing member MickyFine
Clementine Lakefield has been quietly living a double life in the retirement community of Sun City in South Carolina for years. But while doing a wellness check on one of her neighbours, she ends up being enmeshed in a situation far darker than anyone in the quiet suburb could imagine.

As a kid and
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tween, I read multiple Caroline B. Cooney novels and so when I saw in a review journal that she had published an adult mystery novel I was curious to see the result. I was pleased to discover that she can still put together a solid mystery. Are the villains a bit cardboard? Yes. But the suspense is solid in both the present and in Clementine's past as we learn about why she's living under a different name. If you have fond memories of Cooney's novels from childhood, this won't tarnish them. Mystery and suspense readers should also find this a solid read.
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LibraryThing member rmarcin
Clemmie has kept her personal life very private, never giving out her exact address. She has moved to a retirement community in Sun City, SC. But why is she so careful?
One day, she checks on her neighbor, and discovers a piece of art. She texts it to her nephew, and he shares it on social media,
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thereby opening a can of worms for Clemmie. Her past comes back to haunt her.
I enjoyed this tale of an elderly woman being put into a situation, and her thoughts on what to do. Her back story of why she was so private made sense, and the commentary on life in the 50s and 60s and the comparison to now was interesting.
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LibraryThing member EllenH
Interesting combination of retirement community and thriller/ The beginnings suggests maybe a cozy mystery, but it's more than that, but maybe not quite a thriller either. It kept me going. Maybe not the best developed characters, but still really good story. I didn't figure it out til the end.
LibraryThing member delphimo
Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney falls into that category as a book not to be avoided. I read the book in under two days since Cooney details life before rudeness, texting, etc. The main character, Clementine Eleanor Murray, has two other names: Clementine E. Lakefield and Helen Stephens.
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The reader must run through the story of the reasons for this dilemma. The high school basketball coach rapes Clemmie, and Clemmie must move to a school for unwed, pregnant girls. Clemmie never reveals how she became pregnant. The story jumps from Clemmie as a young woman to a woman in her 70’s living in a retirement village in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Events jump fast and furious: drugs, stolen money, murder, reopening of a cold case involving the murder of a basketball coach. This book dwells on the past behaviors of courtesy, kindness, and silence. Is society better for instant gratification and instantaneous news?
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Awards

Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 2021)
Macavity Award (Nominee — 2021)

ISBN

1728239745 / 9781728239743
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