Alison Golden

Alison Golden’s novella, Hunted, sets up some fascinating characters and a very haunting mystery. By the end I’m unsure if it’s the character or the mystery that will drive the rest of the series, but I’m certainly intrigued. Diana Hunter will certainly be a great protagonist—intelligent, driven, wounded, and fiercely determined. But will she learn what happened in the past, or will that just be the agony that drives her on?

For myself, I finished reading with lots of guesses about show more Diana Hunter’s past, and lots of ideas about her mystery, but no resolution. And maybe that’s good. If I read further, I might learn more. And if I don’t, I’ve exercised my brain while enjoying a cool, fast-moving story, with great characters, some wonderful scenes (especially where Dad decides he can trust his daughter’s friend), nice humor, and lots of pathos.

Sure, I would have liked more resolution—some mystery solved, even if not everything. But I’m guessing the series will lead to more resolution, and I recommend this to people who love series, great characters, dark mystery, action and adventure, especially if they don’t mind getting another book (or waiting for one) to learn more.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I freely offer my honest review. show less

Utter tosh

A quick, very light, read with an utterly preposterous plot. I nearly gave up close to the beginning where one of the characters is described as having passed her driving test largely because of her skill in avoiding an escaped bull on the M25 - really? Have they changed the rules? Are learner drivers now allowed on motorways? I am sure this was written for the American market which would neither know nor care, but this is just one example of the daftness of the whole book.

Roxy Reinhardt is, when we meet her, working in a customer service call center in Chicago. It's an awful job for an awful company, but it pays the bills and lets her build some savings--more or less.

Then she loses the job, goes home, and learns she's lost her boyfriend as well. With him moving in with his new love, and with no job, she obviously can't afford the apartment.

In a mad moment of impulsivity, she takes her cat and her few possessions that matter to her, and heads to New Orleans show more for Mardi Gras. She booked a room in a tiny inn, the only one she could find quickly that she could afford and which would accept her cat. She's not sure what to make of the inn, never mind of New Orleans, and least of all of the staff--the owner, Evangeline; Nat, the tattooed waitress; Sage, the spiritualist who does the inn's website; Sam, owner of a modest laundry business who does the inn's laundry and also any odd jobs needed--and who owns a custom Rolls Royce.

As Roxy begins to become friends with these people and at the same becomes very fond of New Orleans, chaos descends on them all. A developer who was determined to buy the inn add redevelop it out of existence is found murdered, and Evangeline seems to be the most obvious suspect.

Roxy thought she was going back to her real life, finding a new job and a new place to live in Chicago after her brief, mad getaway in New Orleans. In fact she's embarked on a new life, centered around the inn, her new friends, and solving murders in New Orleans. It's mad, crazy, and a lot of fun. Recommended! show less

Okay, I have to admit it upfront. I just loved this book. Decent, interesting, quirky people, solving a mystery using their brains. No dogs or cats, which is Just Wrong, but, hey, maybe that will come in later entries?

Detective Inspector David Graham is settling in after a few months has head of the Gorey police force on Jersey. He's still living in the White House Inn because it's so very comfortable and they make his tea just so, but he's in town to stay.

And one lazy Sunday, doing his show more obligatory Christmas shopping, he notices that all the local shops have a particular type of doll in the window--the American Girl dolls, wildly popular about a decade ago. He asks, and learns the sad story of the disappearance of a local girl, Beth Ridley, ten years ago,when she was just fifteen. The entire community turned out to look for her, She was never found, the only thing found was the leg of one of her dolls. She collected the American Girls dolls.

And one of his two constables, Jim Roach, was a classmate of Beth's. It doesn't take him long to realize that, rather than feeling it was a slight on the previous investigation, most of the community he serves would be very pleased to see him reopen this very cold case. He's soon re-interviewing everyone connected to the case, including an ex-science teacher with creepy internet habits, a retired couple who just happened to be passing and saw Beth just moments before her disappearance, Beth's mother, her best friend, and the current headmaster of her school, who was a first-year teacher at the time.

Graham uses his well-honed, traditional police skills, while his sargent , Janice Harding, applies newly acquired computer search skills (and the help of the computer expert assigned to assist the Gorey police in integrating these new tools) to tracking down information on the creepy ex-teacher. Roach reads Beth's previously-ignored journal, which appears to be fiction about talking animals--except Roach can identify several of the characters. He's sure there's important information here, if he can just decode it.

Meanwhile, the other constable, Barnwell, is investigating a persistent series of thefts and shoplifting incidents down at the marina.

It's an interesting, likable group, clearly growing more and more into a real team as they continue to work together.This book unexpectedly hit the spot perfectly, in my need for an engaging, comfortable "cozy" mytery.

I received a free advance copy of this book from the author and reviewed it entirely by my choice. show less