Patsy Stagner

Good murder mystery featuring senior sleuths and set in the Texas Hill Country.

A Venue of Vultures is the first book in author Patsy Stagner’s new series, the Rancho Exotica Mysteries, and features two sisters who have retired to the exclusive Hill Country community of Rancho Exotica. With its unconventional main characters confronted by the murder of a hunter in the woods on their new property, I was quickly invested in their lives and amateur efforts to clear the name of one of the show more sisters of the crime.

I liked the two main characters, the senior sisters, Claire and Avery, who had moved to their dream home after retiring from their legal secretary careers in Dallas. They are nice, friendly women with big, soft hearts and the best of intentions. In addition, they are vegans and anti-hunting and have decided to settle deep in the heart of Texas, known for its thriving meat industry and gun-sport-friendly lifestyle, so they are a little unusual in their preferences, relatively speaking for their new environment. The author is direct and purposeful in emphasizing the sisters’ convictions, mentioning them anytime food or eating is part of a scene or if someone’s décor includes mounted animal trophies. However, after a while, the younger sister, Avery, eventually began coming off as sanctimonious and lecturing rather than just personally committed. Avery is also a very vulnerable character, though, recuperating from a frightening health scare, and she is experiencing some very relatable insecurities with having a romantic relationship with a younger man.

As the first book in the series, the author must build the backstories of the main characters, the sisters and their prospective beaus, so there are storylines incidental to the murder but important to character development. At times, the pursuit of context felt like it was taking me away from the murder investigation for too long, and my interest began to wane. There is quite a bit of telling rather than showing early on in the story, but as the investigation gets underway, the author really hits her stride with relaying the action. There are also some really good funny scenes sprinkled throughout that had me laughing out loud, such as when the four citizen investigators are first introduced to their murder corkboard and the clever mention of the infamously lengthy receipt from a local drugstore.

I look forward to the next book in the series and recommend A VENUE OF VULTURES to mystery readers, especially those who enjoy a more mature group of amateur detectives.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery. show less