Middletide

Set in the small town of Point Orchards on Washington's Puget Sound, the novel alternates between two timelines: a murder investigation in January 1994 and the preceding two decades of Elijah Leith's life, tracing his failed writing career, his return home, and the tangled relationships that make him the prime suspect in a doctor's death.

The story opens in January 1994 when two fishermen discover the body of Dr. Erin Landry, Point Orchards' physician, hanging from a hemlock tree beside a hidden lake on Elijah's property. A suicide note in her handwriting states she cannot live without her daughter Anna, whose death she blames on herself. Sheriff Jim Godbout, a veteran lawman, arrives with his young deputy, Jeremy Hart. Though the scene looks like a suicide, the sheriff notices Erin's bare feet and the absence of any shoes or boat. The coroner confirms the death was a homicide: Blood under Erin's fingernails suggests she scratched an attacker.

The narrative reaches back to August 1973, when 18-year-old Elijah spends his last summer before college running forest trails with Nakita Mills, a 16-year-old girl from the Squalomah, an Indigenous community on the nearby Sacred Mountain Reservation. Their relationship deepens into a secret romance at the hidden lake, where Elijah carves their initials into a hemlock tree. Before leaving for San Francisco to pursue his dream of becoming a novelist, he promises to meet Nakita at the tree in exactly four years. When August 1977 arrives, Nakita waits all day, but Elijah never comes, having chosen instead to sign with a literary agent. She goes home and begins to move on.

Back in 1994, the investigation tightens around Elijah. The sheriff discovers the carved initials "E.L. + N.M." on the hemlock and notes that the killing occurred at low tide, when the inlet to the lake is impassable by boat, meaning the killer likely came through the woods from Elijah's cabin. An anonymous package arrives at the sheriff's office containing a copy of Elijah's failed novel, Middletide, and a typed note stating that Erin's death was not a suicide. The sheriff reads the book and finds that the fictional murder mirrors Erin's death in specific details, including blood evidence and shoes hidden in a hollow tree. Using the novel as a guide, the sheriff finds Erin's boots inside a hollow log near the lake, spotted with blood.

The past timeline resumes with Elijah's return to Point Orchards in 1988, broke and defeated after Middletide sold only 48 copies. His father, Jake, has died of liver failure from alcoholism, leaving Elijah the dilapidated family cabin. He burns his last copy of the novel and begins restoring the property. Chitto Begay, a Squalomah man who was Jake's closest friend, offers Elijah a job at his auto garage and becomes a surrogate father. Elijah searches for Nakita on the reservation but learns from her father, Reverend Samuel Mills, that she is mourning the death of her husband, Kailen, killed in a hunting accident. The reverend tells Elijah the story of the biblical prophet Elijah, a deeply flawed man whose narrative is one of redemption, and reveals that Elijah's mother chose the name for that reason.

In 1991, Chitto dies of lung cancer he had kept secret. At Chitto's burial, Elijah encounters Nakita for the first time in nearly two decades. He apologizes for breaking his promise, but she refuses to reconnect, saying she still feels loyal to Kailen. Meanwhile, Erin brings her car to the garage, and Elijah notices her worn rear tires but does not insist she replace them.

In the 1994 investigation, Jeremy discovers Erin's diary in her nightstand. Its entries portray Erin as a vulnerable woman who fell in love with Elijah, then describe escalating violence: Elijah allegedly shoved her into a table and grabbed her wrist during a public fight at the marina. The sheriff confronts Elijah at his cabin. Elijah denies involvement and demands a warrant, but the discovery of Erin's bound leather dissertation in a drawer at the cabin further incriminates him.

The past timeline traces Elijah's intertwined relationships. On New Year's Eve 1991, he invites Nakita to a town celebration. She arrives at the last moment, and they cautiously begin dating again. Nakita reveals she blames Erin for her grandmother Nani's death, believing medications Erin prescribed caused Nani to sleepwalk, fall, and fatally hemorrhage. She paints a portrait of Chitto for Elijah and makes him promise to write again. By June 1992, his new novel is halfway done. Nakita kisses Elijah at the lake, and he impulsively says he wants to marry her. She pulls away, unable to release her loyalty to Kailen, and runs.

Heartbroken, Elijah stalls on his writing. Erin approaches him about an injured shoulder and asks him on a date. They date briefly, and he takes her to the lake, where she spots the carved initials. He realizes she is not the right woman for him. Reverend Mills counsels him with the biblical story of Jacob working 14 years for Rachel, advising him not to settle. Elijah breaks up with Erin and arranges a surprise reunion with Nakita in a sunflower field. She softens but does not fully commit. By Halloween, they are together again, but Erin coldly reveals their brief relationship to Nakita in public. After a furious argument, Nakita stays. Elijah finishes his second novel, and Nakita secretly submits the manuscript to a Seattle publisher, who offers a two-book deal.

A pivotal chapter shifts to Erin's perspective, revealing that the marina confrontation was entirely staged. She lured Elijah onto her boat, provoked a public shouting match, and manipulated the scene so witnesses would later corroborate a narrative of his violence.

In January 1994, the sheriff arrests Elijah at Nakita's house on the reservation. After days in jail, Nakita and her father post $50,000 bail. Elijah is fitted with an ankle monitor and confined to his cabin. Three defense attorneys prove unsuitable, the last suggesting he could win acquittal by redirecting suspicion toward Nakita, which Elijah refuses. Nakita asks her father, who studied law for three years decades earlier, to represent Elijah.

A late-night memory leads Elijah to his breakthrough. He finds a photograph of Erin's car wreck showing the shredded rear tire, the same one he failed to insist she replace. He theorizes that Erin blamed him for Anna's death in the crash and spent years planning revenge: She committed suicide but framed Elijah for her murder, ensuring he would spend his life in prison. Her death was a suicide made to look like a murder made to look like a suicide.

At trial, the prosecution presents DNA evidence, Erin's diary, witness testimony, and the parallels to Middletide. Reverend Mills cross-examines the DNA expert, establishing that Erin, as the doctor who drew Elijah's blood, could have retained a vial and fabricated the evidence. During a late-night visit, Jeremy shows Elijah the diary. Elijah points out that Erin never dated a single entry, preventing anyone from verifying her claims. Jeremy begins to doubt Elijah's guilt. Elijah realizes that the anonymous package is the one loose end Erin could not control: Someone at a post office accepted it before her death and might remember her face. He sends Nakita to search not in Seattle but in the tiny town of Yacolt, near the reservation.

On the trial's final day, as the judge prepares to send the case to the jury, the courtroom doors burst open. Nakita enters with Martin Shaw, a postman from Yacolt. Shaw testifies that a woman came to his post office before New Year's and arranged for a package to be delivered to the Point Orchards police on January 10, exactly one week after Erin's death. Shown a portrait of Erin, Shaw identifies her without hesitation. The jury deliberates for 19 minutes and returns a verdict of not guilty.

Elijah returns home and runs through the woods to the hemlock tree, where he addresses Erin's memory. He cannot yet forgive her but hopes she is reunited with Anna. In the epilogue, set in June 1995, Elijah and Nakita marry in her father's church on the reservation, the room lit by twinkling white lights while young Squalomah men play Chitto's carved flutes. Standing outside in the warm night, Elijah suggests they return every year to renew their vows. Nakita promises she will be there, and Elijah promises the same.