Somewhere Long Forgotten

by M.J.E. Clubb

Even before discovering the grisly skeletal remains of her former schoolmate, aspiring novelist Sloan Mitchell’s life had crashed to a halt.

Unemployed and houseless, Sloan is forced to leave her cosmopolitan life in Portland behind for a smalltown loft in her parents’ garage. With her comes a dozen boxes, an unused college degree, and mountains of student debt. Lucky her. Despite support from friends and family, Sloan finds re-adjusting to her quirky hometown both nostalgic and challenging as she plots her escape back to the city.

However, once she is thrust into the center of a cold-case mystery, Sloan must reevaluate her plan. New and old allies become possible perpetrators as emerging secrets implicate sinister activities. Sloan is forced to question who she can truly trust in the smalltown she thought she knew and reconsider if returning to Portland should still take priority over helping her friends when there is an uncaught killer amongst them.

And more importantly, can Sloan solve the case before the murderer strikes again?

Genres: Mystery

ebook

First published December 1, 2025

About the author

MJE CLUBB is an LGBTQIA+ author of fantasy novels, horror stories, and poetry chapbooks. Her short story Midnight Zephyr—first collected in the Lonesome Train anthology published by Thirteen O’ Clock Press—began her early career in 2019. Since then, she has published numerous titles and is always actively working on more. Currently, she is a resident of the Pacific Northwest with her partner, children, and pets.

2025 Firebird Book Award winner
2025 The BookFest Award winner

Reviews

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cross stitch content creator was a bit dismayed to find herself relating very hard with the freelance writer and her struggle at being a good friend and would have probably gently pushed the book off of the table in an act of petty revenge if she hadn't been reading it on her phone.

I will not remember the name of the main character, but I will certainly remember her hairstyle and the fact that she was a freelance writer, I suspect Clubb and I might have suffered through the same intro to psychology class where the lecturer endeavored to make sure we would never forget the capital of Mongolia and thus we have both developed a somewhat ridiculous repetition based sense of humor.

This book was like and anti-cozy-mystery, our heroine is coming home, not because she's inherited a cute café from her aunt or for the seasonal cookie bake-off, no it's for the most millennial reason possible, everything is f*cked, everybody sucks, well except her family, they're great and her besties from high school, they're also great, but you know what I mean right? The mystery is old and it's definitely her circus and her monkeys she's not just nosy and nothing will be easy for her not even her meet cute, mostly because our girl is on the horny side definitely not a chaste oblivious cute girlie pop here.

If you like Rachel Harrison's style this one might be for you.

4.5 rounded up.

I received an eARC of this book, many thanks to the author and Booksirens for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I picked this book up because the protagonist’s description reminded me a lot of…me. She’s got a degree she’s not using, she’s in her thirties, and she’s living at home. Thankfully, our similarities end there, because Sloan and her friend Carolyn find skeletal remains in a cave in the lake, and they turn out to be what is left of Carolyn’s cousin Alexandria, missing for twenty years. In Somewhere Long Forgotten by MJE Clubb, it’s up to this duo to bring Carolyn’s murderer to justice, because the police bungled the missing person case years ago and seem on their way to bungling the murder case, too.

What didn’t work for me:

•There are a couple of repeated sections in the book, like it mentions Carolyn had an unplanned pregnancy and she didn’t go back to college, then thirty three pages later it says the same thing with a little added detail about her mom.

•A LOT of references to people’s hair colour, especially “the strawberry blonde”, as well as occupations. A cutesy reference a couple times is one thing, but it’s repeated.

•It’s a little hard for me to buy that Sloan actually cares more deeply for Carolyn than others because she is attracted to most of the characters who get page time. She’s got eyes on the waitress. She feels flutters over Ezra. Smelling Piper (her former teacher)’s perfume makes her “want to lick her lips. It made her want to lick Piper’s lips too.” She doesn’t seem like she’s really present in the moment for anyone because she’s focused on how people smell—SO much about smell attracting her—or look. Even when around the killer, she is TURNED ON by a brief touch. Like…FOCUS, girl.

The good:

•The characters felt real. They definitely had flaws and also had differing relationships with one another, and the setting had that small town vibe of knowing everyone’s secrets and everyone being incredibly nosy with each other. Sloan grew as a person and recognised her shortcomings, which was nice.

•The mystery was good! I locked on to the killer pretty early on, so I wanted to shake Sloan by the shoulders as she went about her investigating, like “No! LOOK OVER HERE!”, but the story had plenty of suspects and also provided the clues in the text. That’s not always a given, so it was appreciated.

Recommended for people who like messy protagonists, enjoy a diverse cast in a small town setting, and who are looking for a modern murder mystery.

I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Julia Juran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a good mystery! It kept me on my toes all throughout the book and I kept thinking I knew the “who done it” and then there would be a twist and I wouldn’t be so sure anymore! I love that it was set in Oregon, the way things were described I could picture places I’ve been and it just felt like home. You get to see Sloan grow as a person in this book, she realizes maybe she hasn’t been the best friend and try’s to show up for her people better.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

My gratitude to the author and team for the ARC!

This story took me some time to get started. It was slow in the beginning but started really kicking into gear about 20%, ramping up in tension and pace. I really appreciated how information was presented about the people surrounding Sloan. It feels like meeting them in person each time, as sometimes you have to remind yourself who they are or what they've done. The mystery was intriguing and the Oregon setting was perfect. This had everything I wanted in a mystery and more. The ending was perfect, as the setup felt in place throughout the book but wasn't too predictable. Really enjoyed the tension! Highly enjoyable and firmly recommended!

[Sharmani Jayaram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sloan is in the midst of a cold-case when the skeleton of her former school mate is found. Lots of suspense to this read which has you on the edge of your seat . I received this ARC copy via Booksirans and recommend this book to other readers

[Mark taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


Somewhere Long Forgotten by M.J.E Clubb is a mystery novel set in small-time America, that tells the story of Sloan who returns to her home town after losing her job and home to live with her parents.

However while swimming in a local lake she finds the body of a fiend who disappeared just before Graduation.

Somewhere Long Forgotten is a small-town mystery that starts off like a romance novel, first we have Sloan returning to her home-town after a series of disasters, even breaking down on the way home, only to be rescued by her high school dream date.

For some the idea of this novel being a romance kept hovering over my mind and in some ways had an effect on my reading it.

One of the few things that the writer M.J.E. Clubb did well because the way that moving back not only to her home town but also to live with her parents was covered, as normally in this style of novel it is mentioned but after say 20% it is like they have never been away.

However in Somewhere Long Forgotten this affected Sloan’s actions and interactions throughout the novel although less towards the end, so it never felt over the top.

As for the mystery itself which after all is the heart of the novel, there were enough twists and turns to keep reading but it felt like the mystery had been done before.


Overall Somewhere Long Forgotten by M.J.E. Clubb can be added to your TBR as it is not a bad read, but unfortunately it never becomes any more than that.

[Vicki-Ann Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Mystery with Twists and Turns!

After a string of bad luck, Sloan Mitchell returns home to the small town she grew up in just in time for her twenty-year class reunion. Seeing her close friends again isn't enough to keep her there, but when her car breaks down she's catapulted into a missing person case from two decades ago, and uncovering the truth could be worse than anything she imagined.
I really enjoyed the intrigue and roadblocks the author placed throughout the story. More than just a whodunit, we get to follow Sloan in her journey to truly express who she is and find her freedom.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book but I had a hard time liking Sloan. She had the hots for so many people in one book that I found it hard to take her seriously, and since she’s bi, it wasn’t even restricted to one gender. Also, the repeated mentions of people not by their name but by their hair color or profession was annoying.
But I don’t have to like Sloan to like the story. Her situation, having to move back home, is relatable. The mystery was well written and I did not guess the bad guy. The secondary characters were an interesting and diverse group.
I received this as a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Mx Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere Long Forgotten is a slow-paced women’s mystery. The mystery is decent. I like Sloan and the secondary cast is diverse. It has a little bit of everything with nothing graphic on the page - well there is a really good fight scene at the end. Gotta love a fight to survive scene. 😆

“Thank you, Trickster Scribe Publishing, for providing this book for review consideration via Reedsy. All opinions are my own.”