Shudder Pulp

Charley Scott Mystery #2

by Vanessa Westermann

Leaves are turning red in cottage country, and Charley Scott is putting on an immersive Halloween pulp art installation based on a local lake monster legend. But life imitates art when Laura, a mercenary newcomer with a controversial agenda for the dam, claims she was attacked by a lake monster she accuses Charley of raising.

Hours later, Laura is found dead by dry drowning.

Accident, murder, or a lethal encounter with a mythical beast? Tension mounts as snaking tracks, an animal carcass, and a witch’s ladder are found near the lake, but could there truly be supernatural forces at work?

Charley teams up with chocolatier Matt Thorn to investigate, but it’ll take more than seafoam toffee to bait this trap. To find the truth, Charley will have to risk it all to look the monster in the eye.

368 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2025

About the author

Vanessa Westermann writes mysteries that combine the heartbreak of murder with the joy of feel-good romance. An avid reader and author of sleuth stories, she is known for Charley Scott Mysteries and Murder by the Book Mysteries. She has been a former Arthur Ellis Awards judge, holds an MA in English Literature and a Bachelor of Education, and has taught creative writing. At the heart of all of Westermann’s stories are strong female protagonists inspired by the heroines in her own life.

Visit Vanessa’s blog at www.vanessa-westermann.info. Follow her on Instagram @vanessawestermann_ or connect on Facebook!

Reviews

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Drawing from local lore, artist Charley Scott is creating an immersive Halloween pulp art project featuring a lake monster. But is it just a local legend? Laura Bouchard arrives at the gallery’s door, soaking wet and angry. She believes Charley’s art brought forth the lake monster that assaulted her. It wasn’t long before Laura was found dead. Her death was by dry drowning. Charley is taken aback.

Is there really a lake monster? Was it responsible for Laura’s death? Or was it an accident? Or did someone murder the woman who was trying to shake up the town of Oakcrest?

Charley needs to know, and chocolatier Matt Thorn is on board to help. Will they get to the truth? Or will the monster get to them first?

The complex characters created by Ms. Westermann continue to evolve in this second installment. Relationships get stronger, as does Charley.

These characters are involved in a very well-plotted, complicated mystery. Deep-rooted secrets build tension that ramps up throughout the story. Layers are peeled back, slowly building interest and intrigue as everyone appears to have something to hide and nothing is as it seems. Personally, I suspected everyone. The subplots twisted within the mystery are just as complicated and dark. You have to pay close attention if you want to follow the right path. I found myself going back and rereading parts at times. Doing this brought the guilty party more into focus. Ms. Westermann’s descriptions take you right into each scene, some are intense. The reveal was eerie and had my heart pounding.

Shudder Pulp is a chilling cozy mystery with a protagonist trying hard to puzzle through the clues. It tests both the characters and the reader.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Louise Penny will delight in this Canadian mystery, the second in the excellent Charley Scott series. Chilling locals legends and murder have collided in cottage country, and artist Charley’s insight and keen knowledge of the villagers are put to use when a newcomer to town is found dead on the shores of the lake. A perfect choice for a fall night, but you’ll love it anytime. Vanessa Westermann is a notable voice in cozy crime fiction.

[Jocelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what happened. I was very excited to continue the series and eagerly awaited Westermann's next book. Finally, the moment arrived and I couldn't get into it. The characters were now annoying, the writing tedious and melodramatic.

I gave it 100 pages then started speed reading to try to find the story I enjoyed in the debut but it wasn't there.

Maybe I've changed as a person in these years but this was unreadable for me. I can't remember enough of the first to say whether her style changed or what exactly is different.

Also, if this were real life, I would hate Charley - tie your dog up, Cocoa obviously cannot be trusted and keeps running away.

[Anne Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book in the Charley Scott mystery series a few years ago, you can find my review here. The second in the series titled Shudder Pulp by Vanessa Westermann is much the same, but it takes place during the shorter days of fall instead of the hot days of summer. The hallmarks of what I loved in the first book have also returned; the cottage country setting, the cozy mystery vibe, and the chocolatier and his famous chocolate shop. Aside from a minor quibble I have about the dialogue (more on that below), I fully enjoyed this book as much as the first, so I’m hopeful I can spread the word about this up-and-coming Canadian author.

Plot Summary

We pick up where the last book left off; a few months later as the weather turns chilly and Halloween is just around the corner. Charley has easily settled into life in small-town Oakcrest, living with her sister and her boyfriend, and dating the local chocolate shop owner Matt. She also has a dog named Cocoa who follows her everywhere, including to the art gallery space Charley is reviving, and putting up a ‘pulp art’ show that plays on the local legend of a lake monster. The plot jumps off quickly with a local woman Laura storming into the gallery and accusing Charley of stirring up trouble; Laura believes the lake monster attacked her, and as she is dripping wet pointing her finger at Charley, she’s making a convincing case. Fast forward a few hours and Laura is found dead outside her brother’s marina, foul play suspected. Charley’s art show is supposed to open on Halloween, but now that there’s a dangerous person at large, maybe even a lake monster, she shifts her focus to investigating Laura’s murder. Her boyfriend Matt is having trouble perfecting his usually-popular chocolate recipes, so he’s more than happy to follow Charley around on this new adventure instead. Laura was pushing for the development of a local dam and she wasn’t very well liked, so the suspect list is long with a few different motives popping up as the search for her killer continues. The legend of the lake monster has everyone on edge, and it doesn’t help matters as threatening signs pointing to its existence begin to emerge, including a severed animal head. The second installment isn’t as ‘fun’ as the first, as the atmosphere and weather is much darker, but it still maintains the rules of the cozy mystery so it never feels gruesome.

My Thoughts

Let’s get my complaint out of the way: the dialogue. The dialogue between characters is totally fine, they speak realistically and their conversations move the plot along well. What I did have a problem with was the constant interjection of the character’s inner thoughts in between sections of dialogue. I found it broke the rhythm of the conversations, and it interrupted the flow of the writing. For example:

” ‘You can bail it out and hope you stay afloat long enough to save yourself.’

Advice for him or her? ‘You could let Alex do his job’

‘The way you did?’ She took a breath before he could react, do anything more than absorb the blow. ‘I’m sorry. But the more people ask questions, the faster we’ll uncover the truth’.

And sometimes the truth hurt.” (p. 69-70 of Shudder Pulp by Vanessa Westermann)

It’s hard to give a sense of this issue in just one quote, but Charley and Matt were constantly analyzing people’s responses (as good detectives should) but it would happen in between conversations, rather than after the character had finished speaking. This didn’t hinder my overall enjoyment of the book, but I did find it annoying. Mysteries are supposed to flow easily, simply because the plot is the main driver for reading it, so I would have preferred the internal dialogue reflect this.

As far as mysteries go, this is very well plotted. There’s a list of viable suspects, each with strong motives, and much of the book is spent getting closer to these people, drawing them out in conversation to determine if they are the culprit. Scott does find herself in a few dangerous moments which amp up the suspense of the book, but this is done gradually and feels totally believable.

The author does a fantastic job of building atmosphere in this one too; even though this is all happening in a quaint little town, it’s not impossible to imagine these jealousies and resentments building, especially among those who have lived next to one another for decades. The Halloween setting is well-suited to the plot and never feels gimmicky, and Charley and Matt’s storylines progress well, easily laying the foundation for the next in the series. Despite my complaint above I’m still excited to read the next installment, whenever that comes out. I respect the fact that this author takes a few years to write and release these books – there’s no need to churn one out each year! She takes care with the characters and the storylines, and it shows.


To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Leaves are turning red in cottage country, and Charley Scott is putting on an immersive Halloween pulp art installation based on a local lake monster legend. But life imitates art when Laura, a mercenary newcomer with a controversial agenda for the dam, claims she was attacked by a lake monster she accuses Charley of raising.

Hours later, Laura is found dead by dry drowning.

Accident, murder, or a lethal encounter with a mythical beast? Tension mounts as snaking tracks, an animal carcass, and a witch’s ladder are found near the lake, but could there truly be supernatural forces at work?

Charley teams up with chocolatier Matt Thorn to investigate, but it’ll take more than seafoam toffee to bait this trap. To find the truth, Charley will have to risk it all to look the monster in the eye.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Dry drowning had never crossed my attention before now; there's a reason for that. I didn't start this read all that confident in the author's basis for the story even before that, as cryptid stories make my eyes roll so far I can see my brain.

Sounds like I'm about to light into Author Westermann, doesn't it. Consider the countervailing forces, though: cozy autumnal lakeside setting; Canada, that put-upon northern neighbor of the US; and a woman declining to leave the investigation of a death the deceased had accused her of causing before kicking the bucket to the police. Even though "the police" come in the form of her sister's boyfriend.

Soldiering on was not painful, even though I was not starting out that well, because I resonated as described and because I was drawn quietly along by the unshowy, unadorned narrative voice. Charley being our PoV character, we hear her more than any other in the third-person narrative. It makes her initial confrontation with the victim much more engrossing, immediate, than if we'd been in the omniscient or even the first-person narrative voice (I always wonder how first-person narrators see such fine-grained detail in action moments.)

Laura's secrets, her private plans, all come to light with appropriate speed and timing. Meghan, Charley's sister, is a journalist so a lot is due to her efforts; Meghan's boyfriend being The Law around their town makes her access believable. Matt, Charley's boyfriend, is of some help to her in the effort to resolve this threat, but he is (believably) involved in events happening in his own business. It doesn't beggar belief how supportive he is, because he's got limits and she respects them.

A cozy story indeed with that kind of scoobygroup. Each character adds their piece to the puzzle; each piece fits in a place that looks one way before it was added, another way after that. People in their town have just had the big October Thanksgiving rush of tourists so have free energy to spend on the murder investigation...some helping, others hiding evidence or knowledge.

This is the second mystery in the series featuring Charley and the townsfolk. I haven't read the first. It was not difficult to find my way through the characters and plot; I expect it will get harder if one were to start after this story because we are in a very dense web of relationships that will only get harder to untangle, to get inside and see from its best angle.

So start here, pick the series up with your gift cards and settle in to cozy Canadian killings.

[Karen Siddall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satisfyingly complex plot with long-held secrets in an atmospheric Canadian cottage country setting.

Shudder Pulp is the second book in author Vanessa Westermann’s excellent Charley Scott Mystery series featuring artist Charley Scott, her family, and friends. It is set in Canada’s cottage country near Blue Heron Lake. As Charley is working on her art exhibit for the upcoming Halloween season, local financial manager Laura Bouchard, wet and disheveled, barges into the gallery and accuses her of trying to scare her to death and drown in the lake. Making little sense, claiming Charley and her art exhibit have awakened their local, mythical lake monster, she demands that Charley change the theme of her exhibit immediately before storming back out to her car and racing away. Only a few hours later, Laura’s body is found outside the office of the Blue Heron Lake Marina, her half-brother Roy’s business, a victim of the phenomenon known as dry drowning. But was her death initiated by accident or a physical attack like she had accused Charley of?

Charley is a strong and smart protagonist, but she is still recuperating from the trauma she endured in the previous book. Although the official detective is Alex, who is Charley’s sister’s boyfriend, Charley is knee-deep in her own investigation, and, once again, her involvement almost gets her killed. Matt, Charley’s love interest, is a good backup but is distracted as he tries to regain his success with his chocolate creations. Meghan, Charley’s sister, keeps track of the case from all the angles she can, with the shared intent of getting the truth out in the open for all to see.

The plot of this second mystery is complex, with intense action scenes, puzzling twists, and plenty of possible murder suspects to cross off the list. Laura had riled up any number of people in town, and her most recent proposal to the town council about upgrading the local dam from water control to hydroelectric power generation engendered even stronger emotions from some of the residents, including Roy. As the story progresses, the secrets underlying those emotions unwillingly come out into the open.

The action takes place in the lakeland town of Oakcrest, which is near enough to Toronto to attract the cottage country crowd for summer vacations and weekend stays. However, with Thanksgiving just over (October in Canada), it is the off-season, and tourists are at a minimum, reducing the income for local mom-and-pop businesses that thrive on their trade to survive. The lake, the marina, and the surrounding area provide quite an atmospheric setting for the story, which features the possibility of a mythical lake monster coming to life.

While this second Charley Scott mystery can be read and followed by readers new to the series, there is little backstory regarding the events of the previous book included to bring them up to date with the characters, so for the best understanding and enjoyment, I suggest reading book one before embarking on this latest adventure. I recommend SHUDDER PULP to cozy mystery readers, especially those who enjoy characters who are artists or reporters or plots with an artistic theme.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

[Katreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

SHUDDER PULP by Vanessa Westermann
The Second Charley Scott Mystery

As autumn turns ever closer to Halloween things are getting spooky in Oakcrest, Ontario. Inspired by the legend of the local lake monster Charley Scott is turning her art gallery into an immersive event; a terrifying one at that. When Laura bursts in drenched saying she's been attacked by the lake monster and that it's Charley's fault, Charley is stunned. But she's more stunned when Laura's body is found dead near her brother's marina a few hours later. In her short time in town Laura managed to anger a multitude of people, but who would want to kill her? With Charley's relationship with chocolatier Matt Thorn intensifying the two will begin to investigate. But secrets are even more dangerous than lake monsters and may just destroy them.

Tension continually ratchets up in the second Charley Scott mystery as events take on a macabre nightmarish quality, in artwork, in relationships, in the very atmosphere. Everything seems to have multiple meanings and everyone appears to have a sinister aspect that is slowly being revealed.

The mystery was as unique as the cause of death and I suspected everybody! Innocent people that were suspects in the first book were acting even more shifty and I thought they could be guilty this time around. I still don't trust Kayla. The drama is not just found in the mystery, rather there is an emotional maelstrom intensifying the action.

SHUDDER PULP will have you shivering with both fear and delight in this slow burning mystery.

[Mindy Quigley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the second outing of the Charley Scott mystery series, Westermann displays a deftness for peeling back the layers of small-town Canadian intrigue that's on par with Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. The body drops early on, a curmudgeonly character no one is particularly sorry to see dead. But when the death is revealed to be a case of dry land drowning, a decades-old lake monster hoax suddenly takes on a dangerous life of its own. Throughout, Westermann pulls off an ambitious juggling act, highlighting the beauty and mystery of the vast Canadian landscape while also evoking the claustrophobia of living in a tiny dot of a civilization with unknown, nefarious forces lurking in your midst. The quality of Westermann's writing sets her books apart from most contemporary mysteries ― each sentence is a joy to read.