Found Drowned is a book that tells the tale of Mary Harney, a woman who was murdered is 1877 which remains unsolved. Originally from Nova Scotia, it is believed Mary’s body washed up on the shores of PEI after she was killed. Though based on a true story, I found the author of this book mixed fact and fiction very well to create an enticing story based in 1800’s Nova Scotia and PEI. The scenery the author portrayed was very well done and gave me a good perspective of what things were like at this time in both places.

The characters in this story were very well developed. I found the characters could be quite complex, which I loved, but at the same time there was just so many characters (Mary, her parents, grandparents, ect…) that I was almost losing track, but that could just be me haha. As well, the switching back and forth between the Nova Scotia side of Mary’s life and the PEI side where her body washed up was hard to keep track of at times. I found flipping back and forth between chapters helped me out a lot, as this was such a well written book that I didn’t let that bother me.

As you could’ve guessed based on the title, this book was very tragic. The author did a great job of making me feel certain ways about certain characters, and some of them were downright nasty in my opinion. Mary’s family had a many sufferings, with alcoholism, drug abuse and physical abuse. So her upbringing wasn’t portrayed as the greatest. I found the twists and turns of the plot kept me interested, and I was quite invested in many characters in this story.

I enjoyed this mystery book quite greatly, and even though not all true what history it did have was strikingly interesting. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys atmospheric and descriptive writing, mystery novels that have some truth to them, and those who just enjoy tales of life in old PEI and Nova Scotia.

Found Drowned was that historical fiction, true, unsolved, murder mystery that makes a great read. It’s a pretty short little book, and I liked reading every little thing about it. This is the kind of book that keeps you reading until the end, waiting for the ending, or the reveal. I thought it was all very nicely written, with good characters, and nice plot. I thought that it was even more interesting when I found out that it was based on true events. Mary Harney is the girl who was found drowned, washed up on the shores of Prince Edward Island, her body drifted all the way from Nova Scotia. The story is told from multiple POVs, the POV of the people who found her, and flashbacks to Mary’s POV, her life before, and then her family’s POV as well. I thought the use of the multiple POVs was very well used, and there was enough suspense in it, and the information between people didn’t overlap twice. It’s tricky when you’re basing something on a real story, there’s a lot of research that goes into it, then you have to stay true to the real events, while making it so that it reads like a story and not a history book. I thought this was very well executed. This was quite small book, so that doesn’t leave me with quite a lot to write about, but I thought it had a very solid storyline and that it was well told. I was also satisfied with the ending, and I think it was nice, because when it comes to true events like this, they’re better left unsolved. There’s no reason to want to come up with a whole different and untrue case, it doesn’t even turn into a whodunnit mystery. It’s just simply a mystery. And some cases are better left unsolved.

Here’s the official synopsis from Nimbus:
Based on a true unsolved crime from 1877, Laurie Glenn Norris’s debut novel tells the story of two small towns linked by the disappearance of a teenage girl. Mary Harney is a dreamy teenager in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, whose ambitions are stifled by her tyrannical grandmother and alcoholic father. When Mary’s mother becomes ill, an already fragile domestic situation quickly begins to unravel until the September evening when the girl goes missing.
Across the water on Prince Edward Island we meet Gilbert Bell, whose son finds a body washed up on the beach below the family farm. As the community is visited first by the local coroner and then by investigators, Glenn Norris paints a fascinating and darkly comic picture of judicial and forensic procedures of the time. At once tightly plotted and pensive, the novel travels back to the circumstances that led to Mary’s disappearance and then back further to the circumstances of her parents’ marriage, all the while building toward a raucous courtroom finale.

This nineteenth-century murder mystery, based on a true unsolved crime, follows the story of two maritime towns linked by the disappearance of a teenage girl named Mary Harney who lives in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Across the water on Prince Edward Island, readers meet a rural community rattled by the finding of a body washed up on the beach. This historical fiction novel travels back to long before the circumstances that led to Mary’s disappearance building towards an intense search for answers.


This gripping story was well-paced and kept the reader engaged. I admire the author’s ability to elicit strong feelings from readers towards some characters. A few characters were morally grey, yet all were extremely well-developed. Unfortunately, there were a few minor instances of historical inaccuracies, including the jargon used. I also wasn’t a fan of the vulgar language included. On the other hand, I loved how the author captured the small-town feel of the settings in both provinces. It made the story seem more realistic.


The plot mainly focused on the lead-up to the crime and lacked a detailed resolution that could have made for a more satisfying ending. Nonetheless, I found that the unknowns of the true case were imaginatively filled in by the author. I also love the way this book was structured. The dual timelines weaved together wonderfully to create a clever storyline. The alternating dates and locations required readers to be more actively present which some readers may be apprehensive about, but I found it excellently intertwined overall. The book also served as a reminder of the difficulty of solving cases back then and how much has evolved.


True crime is a complex genre that goes beyond a neatly constructed story with a criminal mastermind, fearless heroes, and unsuspecting victims. The book balanced it all well, including multiple potentially difficult topics such as death, abuse, grief etc. I recommend this unique mystery novel to older readers looking for a dark yet entertaining read.

Laurie Glenn Norris' story "Found Drowned" is a fantastic piece of writing. The plot is inspired by an actual unsolved crime story that occurred in 1877. The story is set in Nova Scotia, and it relates the story of two villages that are united by the disappearance of a teenage girl. Mary Harney is a visionary adolescent living in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, whose ambitions are thwarted by her controlling grandmother and drunken father. When Mary's mother starts to become ill, situations quickly unravel, until the girl goes missing in September in the evening, everything starts to fall apart.
This is a truly amazing book that has an amazing mystery that will keep making you want to read more and more ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 start rating