Don't Look Close - Jaima Fixsen - ★★★

AUTHOR: Jaima Fixsen

GENRE: Historical Crime Mystery

PUBLICATION DATE: August 18, 2026

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical mystery following a pair of siblings and a crime. Nice use of the small-town setting. Historically-relevant inclusions (including polio.) Good development of the lead characters but not so much of the secondary characters. Convoluted mystery with too many interconnections and a lacklustre ending. A mixed bag for me.

Plot Preview:

1955. When Edie moved to Clairbeck, a small mining town in Canada, to work as a nurse after her divorce, she didn’t expect that her ex-husband would be murdered soon, and that she would be the prime suspect. Her brother Peter, just discharged from the hospital after contracting polio, is determined to help clear her name, but with his limited mobility and physical strength, he is mainly reliant on his camera to look for evidence. With the secrets soon piling up, the siblings find themselves struggling to sort out the mess.

The story comes to us in the alternating third-person perspectives of Edie and Peter, with some interludes in first person from an unidentified character.

I had loved Jaima Fixsen’s first solo novel – a medical crime mystery titled ‘The Specimen’ – and hence had been looking forward to this second crime mystery. However, while the book does deliver on certain aspects, the mystery itself isn't its strongest point.

Bookish Yays:

💊 Peter as a character. Strong and reliant even with his helplessness about his physical struggles.

💊 The depiction of polio and how it affected without mercy prior to the polio vaccine. Antivaxxers should read such stories to understand why vaccines are important.

💊 The historical research, evident not just in major events but also in the little details such as clothing and cameras. The author’s note confirms the work done.

💊 The medical details and the questions about medical ethics. ’The Specimen’ was also strong in its medical content, and given the author’s Nora Beady series co-authored under the pen name ‘Audrey Blake’, it is clear that medical writing is her strength.

💊 The small-town setting and how it comes into play during the crimes and the investigations.

Bookish Okays:

🏥 Edie. A solid character but she also seems reckless somehow, which goes against her professional training. I also didn’t get how the book mentioned her as having unsteady hands; she was a nurse, and a good one at that!

🏥 The pacing. Starts off strong but the middle really lags with tangential scenes. The climax is overly fast-paced, with the main confrontation over within the blink of an eye.

🏥 The number of characters is very limited, but there are a lot of personal and professional interconnections across them. It is tough to sort out the tangled mess, especially as each character comes with some baggage.

🏥 The first-person interludes by a mysterious character. After a point, it is easy to guess who the character is, so it somewhat spoils the fun of the mystery. The plot does offer several twisty turns in recompense.

Bookish Nays:

💉 Too much amateur sleuthing. Almost all the digging around is done by Peter and Edie, and the police are hardly there in the story.

💉 The mystery. Too convoluted and too cluttered with unnecessary subtracks connected to multiple characters’ personal lives. Too coincidental that every character had so many connections with the others. This was a big Nay for me as a mystery novel should have a strong mystery.

💉 The ending. Too rushed. And the motive felt somewhat weak.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 11 hrs 26 min, is narrated by Libby McKnight. She is a capable narrator and handles the character voices and emotions well. But because the plot itself is intricate, with multiple relations between characters, I found the mystery a bit tricky to follow on audio.

Overall, while this novel delivers on several regards, it didn’t satisfy me on the main thing I picked it up for: a crime mystery. The complicated cross connections across multiple characters ensured my confusion. The lead characters helped somewhat, but I enjoy mysteries where the police end up finding and doing more than the amateur sleuths.

‘The Specimen’ was a far better novel, but the medical content in this one ensures that I won't give up on the author just yet.

Recommended to fans of historical mysteries. This isn't a must-read, but it entertains while it lasts.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Recorded Books for providing the DRC of “Don't Look Close” via NetGalley and the RB Media Listening Circle. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.