Monday, February 8, 2021

Misalignment and Murder (A Chiro Cozy Mystery Book 2)

Author:  Cathy Tully
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781736446720
Visions & Revisions Unlimited
216 Pages
$10.99; $3.99 Amazon
February 15, 2021

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A doctor, a dog, and a dead body!  It's Halloween, and dastardly deeds at the fall festival land right in Dr. Susannah Shine's lap.  However, tripping over a corpse is only the tip of her troubles.  Susannah's sister, the vivacious Angela Rossi, has moved to town bringing her son, Caden, with her.  As Susannah adapts to life as an aunt, and BFF Bitsy Long takes on greater responsibilities in the Peach Grove Business Association, the murder investigation quickly implicates newly divorced Angie.  Juggling her parenting responsibilities with her need to clear her sister, Susannah discovers clues at Caden's camp-out that point to a conspiracy at work in her small town.  Unable to prevent a second death, Susannah finds herself following a dog dressed as Sherlock Holmes who digs up an important clue in the old Civil War Cemetery.  With a killer on the loose and the Growl-A-Ween canine costume contest just around the corner, can Susannah stop the killer before he kills again?

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Dr. Susannah Shine is an ex-cop who's now a chiropractor in a small Georgia town.  She's been living here happily, but then her sister Angela decides to move there with her small son Caden.  While Susannah knows it will impact her life, she just doesn't know how much until there's a murder.  It's not long before Angela is considered the top suspect -- the only suspect -- and Susannah needs to clear her sister's name.  But when a series of events topple everything one over the other, things suddenly start spiraling, and what once seemed a slam dunk is now a slow crawl to find out the truth...and the killer...

This is the second book in the series, and I haven't as yet read the first (although I do fully intend to go back and do so).  I found this book lively and fun, with a wealth of characters that exude southern charm and grit.  Each one has a distinct personality and are larger-than-life in their approach to it.  Susannah, however, is more reserved and while she has her own schemes (out of necessity), it's her best friend Bitsy that brings the comic relief to the story.  She's a force of her own.

The mystery itself was done very well, and I enjoyed the plot immensely.  I thought this story was well-written and carried many surprises throughout; the characters involved are believable and the descriptions of everything going on brought you into the story nicely.  While this takes place at Halloween, it really isn't a Halloween story, so there's that to say about it, but it really doesn't make any difference, as we're not there for the holiday anyway, but to solve the mystery.

However, that isn't going to be as easy as one thinks; we might have to wait until Susannah herself gives us the clues to figure everything out.  And she does this admirably, giving the final pages the oomph it needs to put everything together and set all to rights.  I was quite entertained by the entire tale, reading it in one sitting.  Recommended.



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