A Good Man Gone, A Mercy Watts Mystery
by A.W. Hartoin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
It’s summer in
St. Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective
and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she’s off the hook for doing
any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack,
Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy
tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she’s her father’s daughter.
Soon Gavin’s death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her
wedding day. Can the two be connected? Was Gavin murdered? Now Mercy can’t
stop. You do for family. That’s all there is to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Dr.
Grace held Gavin’s body for two days and then called me down from orthopedics
for a talk, as he put it. I arrived at ten in the morning, and the morgue was
hopping. There were no less than five detectives, a police photographer, and a
couple of beat cops standing around drinking coffee. One of the detectives was
my cousin, Chuck Watts.
Chuck
saw me and, before I could react, walked over with his patent self-assurance
that that never failed to irritate me. He looked good as he always did. He once
told me that only ten percent of the world’s population is attractive. He
definitely considers himself in the top ten percent, maybe top five. I hated to
admit it, but he was right. Chuck was a pleasure to view with his sinewy
muscles, broad shoulders, and hooded blue eyes. Still, Chuck couldn’t be
considered conventionally handsome. He had thinning hair and pockmarks on his
cheeks, but those flaws added to his allure. Dad said it was lucky he had them
or he would’ve gotten nowhere on the force. It doesn’t pay to be too
good-looking in a job like Chuck’s.
“Hey,
Mercy,” he said and gave me a hug that lasted a couple of seconds too long. No
one else seemed to notice.
“Back
off, you stink,” I said.
“Is
that any way to greet your favorite cousin?”
“You’re
not my favorite cousin. We’re not even blood-related.”
“Even
better.” Chuck smiled the smile that melted the hearts of every single one of
my friends, including my best friend Ellen. She took him to our prom. I haven’t
quite forgiven her for that one.
Review: Don't judge this book by its cover. This is a fabulous mystery and Mercy Watts is the kind of heroine you have to love. She's a sexier, smarter version of Stephanie Plum. (And well, her cars don't get blown up)
Her dad's a former cop and a PI and she is a nurse/assistant that's dating a doctor.
For a reasonably short novel (a little over 200 pages) the mystery is pretty complex. In fact, there are two murders to be solved, a bride killed on her wedding day and Gavin, the family friend whose seemingly normal death turns out to be murder.
There are so many ideas of who might be the killer, but even as you approach the last 30 pages, you don't have an idea of whodunit! That to me makes for a great mystery.
I love all the quirky characters, especially uncle Morty and Aaron.
This is a fast paced book that's full of madness, mayhem and hilarity. Its it the first full length Mercy Watts story, there have been a few short stories prior to this. I can't wait to read them, and I hope there will be more Mercy stories in the future, she's a character you really fall in love with.
Rating: 5 flowers
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
A.W. Hartoin is the author
of the Mercy Watts mystery series and the Away From Whipplethorn fantasy
series. She lives in Colorado with her husband, two children, and six bad
chickens.
https://www.facebook.com/anne.hartoin
www.awhartoin.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D1CPG5I
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/322959
A.W. will
be awarding a backlist ebook on each stop, It Started with Whisper, to a
randomly drawn commenter, and a $30.00 Gift Card to one randomly drawn commenter
during the tour.
Follow the tour here and comment often for better chances of winning!
6 comments:
It sounds like a lot of action packed into a relatively short story. I look forward to checking it out
fencingromein at hotmail dot com
What a nice review. I like the description of Mercy as a sexier, smarter Stephanie Plum. Sounds appealing.
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Thanks for sharing an excerpt with us! I'm so happy you enjoyed the novel!
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
I like Stephanie Plum, but I do think she's a bit scatterbrained - but I grin a lot. If Mercy is more sophisticated, smarter, then I'm sure I will like her. And the mystery isn't easy to figure out? I really like that.
Thanks for the review.
donna(dot)durnell(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
I love it when I can't figure out whodunit.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Great review, thank you.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
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