Author: Karen MacInerney
Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781503940345
Thomas & Mercer
281 Pages
$11.99; $0.99 Amazon
October 18, 2016
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lucy Resnick's nerves are as tight as a tea cozy. Her new goats, Hot Lips and Gidget, keep making a break for the town square, her truck is dying, and her boyfriend's gorgeous ex-wife is in town for the holidays. Worse, someone's digging holes on her land...and uprooting her peach orchard and dewberry patch in the process. Lucy needs additional holiday stress like she needs a blow to the head -- which she receives one night, courtesy of the mystery digger.
When the dim-witted sheriff arrests one of Lucy's best friends, the former reporter puts her own problems on the back burner and starts investigating. What she finds is a patchwork of clues -- an injured puppy, a sapphire necklace gone missing, and a string of poison-pen letters -- that draws her deep into a web of small-town secrets.
Word travels fast in Buttercup. When the killer learns Lucy's on the trail, Lucy finds she needs more than her reporting skills to save her friend -- she needs a Christmas miracle.
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Lucy Resnick is an ex-investigative reporter who moved to her late grandmother's farm in Buttercup, Texas. She's struggling to make ends meet, and doesn't know if her truck will make it through the winter. But she's doing her best, and determined to make something of her farm. While in bed one night, her poodle Chuck starts barking and won't stop. Lucy hears noises outside, and goes to investigate, armed only with a hoe. But she trips and is hit over the head, awaking two hours later.
The next morning, she goes to pick up two goats from her friend Peter, and while there, they see smoke in the distance. When they go to see what's happening, a home is on fire. Peter, a volunteer fireman, tells Lucy to call 911 -- and runs inside to see if anyone is home. He comes out with a young woman, and then once again with a black puppy. The woman is Krystal, a waitress for her friend Quinn, and it appears she was dead when the fire started.
When people are questioned about who wanted Krystal dead, the first person thought of is Lucy's friend Molly, who had an argument with her about Molly's daughter Brittney. Now Molly is in jail for murder, Lucy's trying to keep her goats penned, her parents have come for Christmas, and she finds out her boyfriend, local veterinarian Tobias's ex-wife Mindy is in town. Not an auspicious start for a memorable Christmas, but if she doesn't find the real killer, Molly isn't going to be celebrating it at all...
I read the first in this series and really enjoyed it. But with the beginning of this book, I wasn't sure how the rest of the book would go. It seems there are times when Lucy is Too Stupid to Live. She hears someone outside, doesn't own a gun (stupid of her living in Texas and in the country, to boot), and decides to investigate - in the dark - armed only with a hoe. Then she trips and gets hit over the head, knocking her out. Did I mention she was wearing only pajamas and a robe? In winter? And was out for two hours? When she wakes, she's not even cold. My family's from Texas, and it gets chilly in the middle of the night there, though not frigid. Then, she doesn't even call the sheriff because she 'knows he won't do anything.' Say what? I don't care if he hates her. She was knocked out
on her own land. The sheriff needs to investigate.
Why is this man sheriff anyway? He doesn't know his job, and when he arrests someone, it's for his convenience, not because they're guilty. Why isn't anyone running against him? Why isn't he removed from his position? I rarely hate the 'evil nemesis' enough to want to see them done in, but I sure hope in the next book he's the victim; having someone this detestable and worthless in the book just nearly ruins it.
Now that I'm done with my rant - for the rest of the book, I thought the mystery was fine, and there were a few red herrings strewn about, which is always a nice thing. While it didn't seem that Krystal had done anything to get herself murdered, the fact is that she was, and Lucy is trying to figure out who not only killed her, but committed arson to hide the crime. Obviously, the horrible sheriff isn't going to do anything and would rather send an innocent woman to prison, but at least Lucy has help from her friend Quinn, who has a few ideas of her own.
I do like Lucy's parents, and would hope to see more of them in future books. Her dad indulges her, and her mom's a softy, although she doesn't want anyone to know that. Lucy's lucky to have them. While there aren't a lot of descriptions of the farm nor the surrounding countryside, we may forgive that because there was plenty of action in this story, with everything occurring at the same time.
When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it's a bit of a surprise, but there are clues leading up to it, though as I mentioned before, the red herrings move things in other directions. When everything is said and done, aside from Sheriff Do-Nothing, the book was very good and I will read the next in the series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Frost-Dewberry-Farm-Mysteries/dp/1503940349/ref=
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3215625048
More on Karen MacInerney's Books:
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/karen-macinerney/
