Genre: Mystery
Digital Book
Lyrical Underground Publishing
217 Pages
$5.99 Amazon
October 22, 2019
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As editor-in-chief of the Britton Bay Bulletin, Molly steps in for a sick reporter to cover the Classic Car Crawl, an exhibit of vintage automobiles. Her main challenge is not being driven to distraction by the presence of her hunky boyfriend, Sam Alderich, a fellow car enthusiast whose auto shop is sponsoring the event. But when she and Sam discover the co-founder dead in his car, Molly quickly shifts gears to solve the murder.
With a showroom full of suspects - including the co-founder's longtime partner, much-younger wife, enigmatic ex, and car owners with grudges and grievances - Molly soon starts to feel like she's spinning her wheels. And after things take a turn for the worse, it's all she can do to steer clear of trouble and stay out of a killer's clutches...
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Molly Owens is the editor-in-chief of small-town newspaper Britton Bay Bulletin and in a relationship with Sam Alderich, who owns his own garage and is sponsoring a classic car show that's been held in other cities, but never Britton Bay. He's excited to meet his two idols, who are co-founders of the event - Jet and Brian. But when he and Molly do meet them, Jet, a man in his seventies, is making passes at Molly...and they find out that not only does he have an ex-wife who's there but his current wife is only 24 and she's there, also.
It's also pretty evident that Jet doesn't care who he sleeps with, but all Molly wants to do is avoid him. When Sam is checking to see that everything is locked up for the evening one night, he finds Jet sitting in his car. It's not long before he discovers the man dead. Molly also discovers that there's plenty of suspects from the ex- and current wife, to fellow car enthusiasts and a nosy reporter that's come on the scene. Every one of them had motive. But which one killed him? When Molly gets too close to the truth, she'd better watch herself or Jet will have company...
This is the third book in the series and I liked it as much as the other two. The plot was interesting, and I liked the fact that none of Molly's friends were suspected of murder. What a nice change- I also like the fact that Sam owns a garage and he isn't the usual police officer or attorney. This time out, Molly's main reporter is out ill so she's taking a turn interviewing the drivers, and what she hears (or overhears) leaves her with questions when Jet is killed.
But of course, Sam's friend, police deputy Chris Beatty, is taking the lead on the investigation and even though he tells Molly to leave it alone, neither he nor Sam believes she will. And they're right. There's red herrings thrown about, but not as many as you think, and it seems that no one has an alibi, since everyone is alibiing each other in one way or another.
There's also the subplot of how Molly's relationship with Sam is growing. After being hurt by her last boyfriend, she doesn't want to let Sam know how much she cares, but watching them figure it out is a pleasant diversion. I'm not big on romance novels but I love the fact that there's romance attached to the mystery, but it's never confused with it. By that I mean the murder never takes second place to the romance, and that's how it's supposed to be.
I also liked the fact that we were given some background on a couple of minor characters which Ms. Holford has managed to do in each of her books; bringing us into the lives of everyone who surrounds Molly. It's what a true cozy should be - when you enter the town, you learn a little more about each resident as time goes on. It made for an enjoyable read.
When the murderer was discovered, it wasn't much of a surprise, but then it's more about the journey to find the truth in mysteries, anyway. And this was a very good journey indeed. I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
https://smile.amazon.com/Deadly-Ride-Britton-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07N5FV2F9/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2983519358
More on Jody Holford's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/jody-holford/
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