I read this book through The Mystery Cozy Review Crew this week and thoroughly enjoyed it.
About:
"Helen Waring, the "Auntie Mame" and Mayor of her small town, discovers the body of her friend, Martha Taylor. Martha owns a bookstore on "Antique Row" where Helen also owns an antique shop. Helen suspects a former employee of Martha who sold drugs out of her bookstore. Or, it might be Martha's abusive husband. Helen is shocked when Martha's son is arrested for her murder. Helen solves the crime by unraveling a decades-old secret. The secret links an elderly woman who suffers from Alzheimer's, Martha's son, and a man from Martha's distant past who now takes a romantic interest in Helen. Alone in her antique store at night, the angry killer confronts Helen."
Helen is well into her 60's, owner of an antique shop and mayor of the small town. I found it refreshing to read a mystery with the amateur sleuth of this age again.
The mystery starts on page one and just like Jessica Fletcher, Helen jumps right in to help Skip, the Chief of Police, find out who murdered Martha. There are several viable suspects, but Helen just feels something just isn't right. We are introduced to several likeable members of the small town's members of the community, who play a part in solving the mystery. I really liked the twist of an age old mystery that people had forgotten about, that is key to Martha's murder. The story engaged me on the first page, and held my interest. It is a quick read, speeding up at the end and with a good Aha! moment for me. I always like a book with cats and dogs, and we have Oliver the resident antique store cat who inadvertently provides a clue, and of course Buster, Helen's smart and loveable dog.
C.L. Hutchins has a pretty interesting background. (Check out his website. See below.) His great aunt is the inspiration for the main character in this book. And he has too dogs, named Buster and Ollie, same as the two pets in the book. He has two other mystery series.
The Red Feather Mysteries set in a small mountain village (3 books): Jackie Reed, a young real estate agent and single mother keeps finding bodies in the small mountain village where she lives. She and her mentor, George Ferrell, who runs the village's general store, put on their detective hats to solve the mysteries.
The Rounders; set in Iowa in the 1950's (4 books): Set in the 1950s when life was without cellphones, the internet, or computers. The Rounders are six friends who meet weekly at a roadside cafe on the Lincoln Highway. They are drawn into solving local murders.
They look pretty good. I am going to add this author to my TBR list.
I received a free copy of this book.
Here is his website: http://clhutchins.com/
Sounds good, Gayle! I also like protagonists that are of a 'certain age'. :-)
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