Chances Choices Changes Death
A Caroline Hargrove Hamilton Mystery, Book #2
By Connie Knight
Author’s Website: http://www.connieknightmysterywriter.com/
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jerjen
Myra Cade and her son Scott are living with her father Doug at the Robinson Ranch. Myra has never named Scott’s father, and many people wonder who the father is. When Myra’s own father becomes very ill, she presents paternity papers to Danny Harrell, who many suspect is the father. She hands him the papers at a bar and then leaves. Before the paternity test can be performed, Myra is found dead and her son Scott is missing. What could have happened to Myra and who would want her dead? And where could Scott be and is he alright?
Caroline Hargrove and her cousin Janet would like to know the answers to these questions. They have been spending time at the Robinson Ranch taking riding lessons and they know all the people involved. They cannot believe that Myra has been murdered and they cannot imagine anyone who would want her dead. They decide that they need to investigate and try to determine who the culprits are and the reason behind it. This will not be easy, though, and it will take hard work and expert sleuthing to figure it out. And they need to find Scott, sooner rather than later, before he meets the same fate as his mother.
There are many characters introduced to the reader, especially at the beginning of the book.This is a good thing because there are many suspects to consider when trying to solve the mystery. But it was difficult for me to keep track of all of them, how they were related and how they were involved. I almost had to start writing names down so I knew who was who.
The story switches back and forth between being told in the first person by Caroline and then switches over to Danny and his perspective. I do not usually enjoy reading books written in the first person but I thought the author did a nice job with this. I thought the transitioning between the two was done with ease and there never seemed to be any awkward areas. When the story was being told by Caroline, the action seemed to be more dialogue based rather than action based. I prefer reading action based so I enjoyed the chapters dealing with Danny more than Caroline’s.
The mystery is carried on throughout the whole story and the reader is pulled in trying to solve it. There are many twists and turns and there are clues cleverly hinted at throughout the book. Of course at the time I was reading I did not pick up the hints as clues but after I finished I thought to myself, ‘Oh, that was a clue that I totally missed”. That happened a few times and I enjoyed that.
The author is very talented in using the written world to give descriptions of the settings. There were many times that I could picture either the ranch or the bars or the countryside in my mind and I felt like I was there.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted mystery suspense. This is a clean read and could be read by anyone. I have not read the first book in this series but I plan on picking up and reading it.
