Death & the Gravedigger's Angel (An Auction Block Mystery #3)

Author:  Loretta Ross
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover (LP); Trade Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #: 9781410497659; 9780738750415
Midnight Ink Publishing
264 Pages
$30.99; $14.99; $7.99
February 8, 2017

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When former army medic Tony Dozier is accused of killing a member of the hate group that disrupted his wife's funeral, the prosecution charges premeditated murder and the defense claims temporary insanity.  Former marine Death Bogart and auctioneer Wren Morgan think there's more to the story.

They're both led to the long-abandoned Hadleigh House, where Wren begins preparing the contents for auction but ends up appraising the story behind an antique sketchbook.  As Wren uncovers the century-old tale of a World War I soldier and his angel, Death finds a set of truths that will change...or end...their lives.

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Wren Morgan, her boyfriend Death (pronounced Deeth) Bogart and his brother Randy are making their way to Hadleigh House, an old abandoned mansion that's just been handed to the Keystone and Sons auction house.  Wren works for them and is going to catalogue and pack up everything for auction.  But while they are wending their way to the house, Death tells Wren about a recent event:  it seems an old man wearing a Civil War uniform was killed on their path, also known as the Vengeance Trail.  He was drunk, riding a stolen horse, and the horse ran him into a low-hanging branch and he had been killed.  Then Death tells Wren the 'creepy' part, which is the fact the uniform was saturated with formaldehyde and traces of human decomposition - which means the dead guy removed the uniform from a recently-deceased corpse.  Not a pretty picture to Wren (or to anyone, I would imagine).

The brothers leave Wren to her task and decide to explore the surrounding area, which (without going into great detail) puts them in contact with Kurt Robinson, who runs Warriors' Rest, a camp for wounded vets.  When Kurt finds out that Death is a private investigator he asks for his help in proving his friend insane.  It seems the friend, Anthony Dozier, is on trial for murder because he was found with a dying man in the back of his car.  The man had been stabbed several times, because Tony was seen arguing with the man's father earlier - and here it gets a bit involved - at the funeral of Tony's wife.  Tony married a Muslim woman who died in a car crash, and the CAC (Church of the Army of Christ) is a hate group that want to convert or eradicate anyone who isn't Christian, so they showed up to protest.  Tyler Jones is the head of the church and the man Tony confronted.  Tony was found the next morning, thinking he was back in Afghanistan with a wounded soldier in his car and was trying to find the base hospital.  So the defense wants temporary insanity, and the prosecutor wants murder since he believes it was premeditated. 

Meanwhile Wren, while going through the house finds an old sketchbook with a drawing of a woman and soldiers.  The woman is holding her hair away from her face with one hand while holding a ladle in the other.  Many of the drawings are similar, all with the woman, and it intrigues Wren to want to know more about the artist and occupier of the home.

Then Orly Jackson, the deputy sheriff of East Bledsoe Ferry, shows up asking Wren if she knew the man because he had a note in his pocket with her name on it and her handwriting.  The note is a reference authenticating the uniform and would have been sold with it but neither Wren nor any of the Keystones remember him, which leaves Orly back where he started - trying to identify the dead man, and also the dead man the uniform was removed from.  As I said, it gets pretty involved...

When Death visits Tony Dozier, Tony tells him he saw his dead wife, and when we went toward her, he found August bleeding and tried to help him.  Death, hearing the story, is sure of one thing: he's convinced the man didn't kill August Jones, and sets out to find out who did.  

When Wren shows Death the pictures she took of the sketchbook on her phone, they both agree that they've seen the woman somewhere before but can't remember; she eventually shows the sketchbook to Doris Keystone who also thinks she's seen the woman before.  What she does tell Wren, however, is that Hadleigh House was also known as 'the gravedigger's house' since it belonged to an old man who lived there by himself and rarely spoke to anyone.

And this, my friends, leaves several mysteries to be uncovered:  Who is the gravedigger?  Who is the woman in the sketchbook?  Who was the dead old man, and where did he get the uniform?  And finally, if Tony didn't kill August, who did?  

This was quite a book.  The plot is complicated, detailed, and utterly fascinating.  We have several subplots that are quite engaging also, and Ms. Ross weaves them together in a tapestry that threads suspense, mystery, and humor effortlessly to create a final product that is gratifying to read.  The best of these (while they are all good) is "watching" Death come to some conclusions of his own (and I will let you find these out on your own).

I think of all the books in this series I enjoyed this one the most, because we are gaining more insight into our characters, and as I have a fondness for them (as one should in each book one reads) I was quite delighted with it.  There are some very funny scenes which had me outright laughing; and I do love the fact that Wren is no shrinking violet - she's a woman who can think on her feet and stand on her own.  There is genuine feeling between all the characters in the book, and you can feel the warmth come through the pages.

When the end comes, and everything ties together nicely, we are given a satisfying conclusion to a very good mystery indeed that keeps us intrigued throughout and leaves us waiting for the next in the series (which I hope is soon!)  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Gravediggers-Angel-Auction-Mystery/dp/0738750417/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1926574890

More on Loretta Ross's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/loretta-ross/

Death and the Brewmaster's Widow (An Auction Block Mystery)

Author:  Loretta Ross
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #:  9780738747057
Midnight Ink Publishing
264 Pages
$14.99; $11.99 Kindle
February 8, 2016

Five Stars

They call it "the Brewmaster's Widow", the abandoned brewery where Death Bogart's brother died in an arson fire.

With his girlfriend, Wren Morgan, Death goes home to St. Louis to take on a deeply personal mystery.  When Randy Bogart went into the Einstadt Brewery, he left his broken badge behind at the firehouse.  So why did the coroner find one on his body?  Every answer leads to more questions.  Why did the phony badge have the wrong number?  Who set the brewery fire?  What is the connection between Randy's death and the mysterious Cherokee Caves, where the opulent playground of 19th century beer barons falls into slow decay?

Not understanding how and why he lost his brother is breaking the ex-Marine's heart.  But the Brewmaster's Widow is jealous of her secrets.  Prising them loose could cost Death and Wren both their lives.

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Death (pronounced Deeth) Bogart is an ex-Marine-turned bounty hunter.  His girlfriend, Wren Morgan, is an auctioneer.  Having just recently finished an investigation and solved a case, he receives a visit from his late brother's fire captain, 'Cap' Cairn.  He has come because it seems Randy's estate still needs to be settled.  It turns out that Randy, under the assumption that Death had been killed overseas, and not liking his widow (at the time) Madeline, created a new will and left everything to the fire station.  But the captain, finding Death alive, wants to return everything to him.  He also brought him Randy's silver shield, which puzzles Death.

It puzzles him because he already has the shield the coroner sent him.  Which becomes an even bigger puzzle when Cap asks him where the coroner got it, and Death tells him it was taken off Randy's body; but Cap says that's impossible because he snapped the back off his badge the morning he was killed, and there wasn't time to have it repaired.  An even bigger mystery ensues when it is discovered that the badges have two different numbers on them - 4103, Randy's number, is on the badge Cap brought, and 4183 is on the badge given to Death by the coroner.  But that number belongs to a very live firefighter.

And even though Cap does his best to convince Death that Randy is dead, Death is sure something else is happening, and so he sets out for St. Louis to find the truth surrounding his brother's demise.  When he arrives, he meets several of Randy's coworkers who were with him that day, and who also tell him that they saw Randy's body, and that he's definitely dead.  Missing Wren, and her missing him as well, he phones her and is told by her employer Roy Keystone that she's on her way to St. Louis.

When Wren arrives, she finds out Death has already consulted the coroner, Sophie Depardieu, who only enforces what everyone else has told him - Randy is dead, and she took the badge off the body herself.  But already knowing what she knows, and listening to Death add what he's learned, she's also convinced something else is afoot, and wants to help him get to the truth of the matter.  And what Death and Wren find could just get them killed in the process.

When Death takes ill from roaming around in caves - his lungs are damaged from an incident when he was in Afghanistan - Wren decides to take over the investigation, vowing to keep him in the dark until he's at least on the way to recovery, and enlisting some unlikely help along the way from Randy's coworker Rowdy's wife Annie.  To add to the problems, Death's ex-wife Madeline shows up, still trying to make him jealous and believing she has a chance of getting him back - but Wren proves more than a match for her, and isn't about to let him go.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  Death and Wren are still finding their way around their relationship, although it isn't the main focus of the story, which is nice.  We are given a fully rounded mystery, with enough plot turns to keep us interested and, as with me, reading well into the night.  These aren't one-dimensional characters by any stretch of the imagination, and Wren's employers, the Keystones, are a hoot, and I wish I knew them in real life.

This is the second book in the series, and Ms. Ross has again given us an intricate story full of deception and lies, with enough twists to make even a pretzel maker sit up and take notice.  I only wish I could add more to what I've already said, but, unfortunately, anything else would be giving away too much and I don't want to ruin the story for anyone.  Suffice it to say that if you've read her first work, Death and the Redheaded Woman, you'll be delighted to know that this one proves her work isn't just a one-time thing; and if you haven't read it, I suggest you do.  Not that this can't be read as a stand-alone; (she gives enough information on Death's past that you don't feel lost throughout the book as with some authors) but you'll enjoy it more with having also read the first. 

Kudos to Ms. Ross for another captivating mystery, and I eagerly await the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Brewmasters-Widow-Auction-Mystery/dp/073874705X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1489070027

More on Loretta Ross:  http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/loretta-ross/

http://joannesbooks.blogspot.com/2015/01/death-and-redheaded-woman-auction-block.html

Death and the Redheaded Woman (An Auction Block Mystery)

Author:  Loretta Ross
Genre:  Mystery

Five Stars

 

When auctioneer Wren Morgan  begins cataloging the contents of the Campbell mansion, she’s unprepared to find something that can’t be appraised—a dead man. After the body turns out to be a criminal with ties to a recent jewel heist, Wren comes face-to-face with Death Bogart. A private eye and part-time bounty hunter, Death is searching for the stolen jewels needed to convict a murderer.

 

Death finds a friend and willing ally in Wren, but they aren’t the only ones searching for treasure. Two ruthless men are also on the hunt, and they will do anything to eliminate the competition. To survive, Death and Wren must solve two mysteries spanning a century and a half and outwit a pair of cold-blooded killers.

 

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Wren Morgan works for the Keystone brothers as an auctioneer.  When the Campbell house needs to be gone through and catalogued, she steps into the house and finds a dead man, who turns out to be a thief looking for jewels from a heist a few years ago.  While at the police station, she runs into a newly licensed bounty hunter, Death Bogart (pronounced "Deeth"), who hears the description and knows who the dead man was.

But there are also rumored to be other jewels missing; those dating back to the Civil War, when the tenant of the house hid them so that the soldiers wouldn't get them, and no one has been able to find them since.  As it turns out, the dead man wasn't the only one searching.  Declan Fairchild, nephew of Ava Fairchild, who willed the house to the historical society, escaped from prison and is also looking for the jewels from the heist, which he hid there - and will do whatever it takes to get them, even murder.

Death is an interesting character in that he's broken in body; he was injured in Afghanistan and is still physically weak at times, but his mind is sharp and he's intelligent, able to think quickly and find a solution to a problem when he knows he can't depend on his physical strength to get him through.  Wren for her part is resourceful, not exactly fearless but not afraid to do what's necessary to achieve her means, either.  Watching these two discover each other and work together makes for a satisfying read.  Even those these two carry most of the book, the secondary characters of the Keystone brothers are amusing to watch.  They look upon Wren as one of their own, while trying to push her and Death together, and not being subtle about it.  In fact, even the police chief isn't subtle about it.

The mystery was involved and moved along at a quick pace, which made it a pleasure to read.  Rarely do I read a book in one sitting, but this one I did.  While I won't say it kept me riveted, I put it down for an hour or so and found myself wanting to finish it, which is praise enough.  This appears to be the beginning of a new series and I look forward to the next book.  Highly recommended. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Redheaded-Woman-Auction-Mystery/dp/0738743933/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1162416316