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Death by Intermission–cozy mystery with a mastiff mix
Death by Intermission
by Alexis Morgan
I had been looking forward to reading another book in the Abby McCree Mystery Series and was not disappointed in Alexis Morgan’s Death by Intermission. Abby, a relative newcomer to Snowberry Creek, already has a reputation as a “murder magnet.” She doesn’t go looking for trouble when she and her tenant/boyfriend Tripp attend the local movie-in-the-park event, but she discovers more than trash during the clean up session after the movie.
There are new interesting characters involved in the excitement in this plot. Abby’s mother, Phoebe, is staying with her for an extended visit, and the two clash in ways they never had before as they find a need to establish boundaries with each other. After all, when is flashing the porch light on a couple saying goodnight appropriate when everyone involved is an adult over age thirty?
Owen is another newcomer to town. He has opened a barbecue restaurant. Owen is dating Phoebe, and she explodes in his defense when Gage, the local police chief, holds him for suspicion of murder. A knife from his restaurant was the murder weapon.
We are also introduced to Jada, a college student working for Owen. Jada finds herself in the middle of the murder investigation. Has she lied to the police? Why is her godfather taking a sudden interest in her? Why was she fired from her former job at the insurance agency that had been managed by her father, and why did the new agent refuse to give her father’s personal possessions to her?
I must mention Abby’s mastiff mix Zeke. Weighing in at almost one hundred pounds, he is her companion and protector, and he is a good judge of character. He adds much fun and interest to the book.
There are so many tangled threads in this plot. Abby, Phoebe, and Jada find themselves in physical danger, and Tripp, Owen, and Gage, who share a common military background, are called upon to defend them. The complications don’t unravel themselves; it takes action from the group to discover and overwhelm the criminal.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #4 in the Abby McCree Mystery Series, but excellent as a standalone.
Publication: January 26, 2021—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“So bottom line, you’re willing to put up with two testy women and a slobbery dog because you’re hungry and haven’t made it to the store recently.” “Pretty much.”
“Come on, everyone, let’s head inside.” With his uncanny sense of who needed him the most, Zeke remained right by Jada’s side all the way into the kitchen and then parked himself right at her feet with his big head taking up most of her lap.
On the surface, it seemed simple. Nothing could go wrong. Right?
The Rancher’s Redemption–doing the right thing
The Rancher’s Redemption
by Melinda Curtis
When Ben Blackwell returns from New York City to Falcon Creek to help save his brothers and the Blackwell Ranch, he plans on a quick win in a water rights issue that was supposedly resolved fire years before. He didn’t plan on battling his old friend, Rachel, now a lawyer and single mom, as she tries to gain back her family’s water rights before the Double T Ranch folds. He never planned on confronting himself and the ethics of his past.
The Ranchers’ Redemption has well developed characters in Rachel and Ben. The plot moves quickly from one event to the next. As Rachel and Ben wrestle with their own goals and with an unwilling attraction to each other, they grow and change. There is more than a little humor throughout the book. The author, Melinda Curtis, has a way with language, writing word pictures that encourage smiles, an appreciation of the modern west, and an understanding of the challenges of being a single mother with too many responsibilities. Curtis very effectively uses a technique of inserting italicized phrases and sentences to indicate what Rachel and Ben are thinking or what Big E, Ben’s grandfather, might have said to him as he was growing up or even in the current situation. Big E had a major influence on Ben, but as Ben spends time on the ranch as an adult, the influences of his deceased parents come more to the front for him. He has some ethical decisions to make about the ranch, his family, and his life. Can this big-city lawyer, hardened by losing his parents and being jilted at the altar, make decisions with his heart?
Once I started reading The Rancher’s Redemption, I didn’t want to put it down. I was amazed at the clever turns of phrase found in the first fifty pages. There are lots of flashbacks to Ben and Rachel’s childhood that were revealing as they provided insights into the driving forces for these characters’ motivations. Interesting characters, both minor and major, good writing, humor, fast moving plot with a dual focus on ranching and the law, moral dilemmas, and messy friendships—this book is a complete package. We even get to meet Zoe, Big E’s current wife. I would have liked to know more of her story to understand her motivations, but it would have been too much to ask within the confines of this book. The author made a good choice in bringing in that storyline but not developing it extensively as that would have been a distraction to the main plot.
As in the previous two books is this series, The Rancher’s Redemption ends with an epilogue that follows Big E in his mysterious and unconventional journey to make things right in his family. Once more, the brief epilogue holds a surprise and leads the reader to ponder what might happen next, eagerly anticipating the fourth book in the Return of the Blackwell Brothers.
I would like to extend my thanks to the author, Melinda Curtis, for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Romance
Notes: #3 in the Return of the Blackwell Brothers. It could work as a standalone as the author throws in a lot of tidbits of information that would help a reader get up to speed on the series’ background or jog their memory on details.
Publication: October 1, 2018—Harlequin Heartwarming
Memorable Lines:
She marched across the ravaged carrots and torn-up grass, scrunching her eyes against the threat of tears, because ranchers didn’t cry. Not over ruined wool and silk.
Hearing Ben’s voice, the bull turned and charged the trees. He wasn’t the brightest steak-on-a-hoof. He slammed into the wrong tree.
Judge Edwards waved him to silence with more irritation than a traffic cop outside the final night of the annual rodeo in Bozeman.
The Rockies towered in the distance. There was nothing dishonest about those mountains. They were hard but they were fair, treating everyone equally. His parents had been honest and fair. But somewhere along the line, Big E had bumped Ben’s sense of right and wrong out of the black and white and into the land of the gray.
education pathways 