This is a place to read what I think about various books and to give your own opinions about books. I am a plain-spoken person but this is not the place for any hurtful words. Being hurtful accomplishes nothing for anyone.
Playing
a mystery game seems the perfect way to celebrate Jamie Kydd’s
promotion to Detective Sergeant rank. But the game turns real when a
body turns up in the pretend crime scene. Perhaps worse than spoiling
the party, the corpse is someone Jamie knows.
Even
though the police take on the case, Jamie asks his friend, former
police detective Michael McLaren, to also investigate—concerned
that the victim’s criminal past may dampen the Constabulary’s
usual fervor to nab his killer. It seems to have been a smart
decision, for the police aren’t expending a lot of energy on the
inquiry.
Suspects
float around McLaren…half truthful, hard to find. More like wraiths
than flesh and blood. If the victim’s burglary partner, ex-wife, or
childhood friend didn’t kill Dan, who did? It’s a desperate game
between McLaren and a killer who’s playing Hide and Seek.
My Review...
McLaren is back but the tables have turned a little. The
tough cases are in someone else’s backyard for a change. McLaren’s mate Jamie
is being promoted and they’re having a party. While it might be the surprise of
a lifetime it most certainly is not the one they were planning.
Another great Michael McLaren story. My favorite character
is back mending stone walls and helping people solve crimes; people that really
need help. And yet, someone is lying; you know how mysteries are...someone is
always lying.
Although the POV hasn’t changed, the author has managed to change
the spotlight to shine on a secondary character and she’s done a good job of
it. She’s almost made Jamie and McLaren seem as if they were partners again; working
together as they did years ago.
Hiestand is excellent at making her characters come alive. Her
writing is poetic. “...grey clouds heavy with potential rain fanned eastward
from the western horizon. Everything earthbound took on their dense, somber hue...”.
Between her expressive writing and skill
at character description, it’s almost as if she creates a stage in your mind;
as if you’re watching a “play”.
There were two other aspects I thought were great in this
book. The author created a lot more tension during the action scenes. Made me
want to read even faster. And secondly, she made it impossible to know who the bad
guy/girl was right til the very end.
This is Book 12 of a series titled “The McLaren Mysteries”.
While it can be read as a stand-alone, you’ll be missing out on a lot of
McLaren cases if you don’t read the whole series.
Books,
Girl Scouts and music filled Jo A. Hiestand's childhood. She
discovered the magic of words and the worlds they create: mysteries,
English medieval history, the natural world. She explored the joys of
the outdoors through Girl Scout camping trips and summers as a
canoeing instructor and camp counselor. Brought up on classical, big
band and baroque music, she was groomed as a concert pianist until
forsaking the piano for the harpsichord. She also plays guitar and
has sung in a semi-professional folkgroup in the US and as a soloist
in England.
This
mixture formed the foundation for her writing. A true Anglophile, Jo
wanted to create a mystery series that featured a British police
detective who left the Force over an injustice and now investigates
cold cases on his own. The result is the McLaren Mysteries, featuring
ex-police detective Michael McLaren. Jo's insistence for accuracy --
from police methods and location layout to the general feel of the
area -- has driven her innumerable times to Derbyshire. These
explorations and conferences with police friends provide the detail
filling the books. She also writes the amateur sleuth Linn House
Mysteries under the pen name Jessie McAlan. In 1999 Jo returned to
Webster University to major in English. She graduated in 2001 with a
BA degree and departmental honors.
She
has employed her love of writing, board games and music in other ways
by co-inventing a mystery-solving game, P.I.R.A.T.E.S., which uses
maps, graphics, song lyrics, and other clues to lead the players to
the lost treasure. Jo founded the Greater St. Louis Chapter of
Sisters in Crime, serving as its first president. Besides her love of
mysteries and early music, she also enjoys photography, reading,
baking, and her backyard wildlife.Her cat, Tennyson, shares her St.
Louis home.
Thanks for hosting my book today. And thank you for such a nice review. I'm glad to be here!
ReplyDeleteGlad to have you here. Best of luck with your book.
ReplyDeleteSounds great! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi, Victoria. Thanks for stopping by Ourtownbooksreviews today. Good luck with the raffle drawing!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Jo, my question for you today is, would you ever consider co-authoring a book and if so, who would you most like to work with?
ReplyDelete