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Publisher: Padlock Mystery Press
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Release
Date: 2004 |
ISBN: 0974331627
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Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Crime [Contemporary, Oklahoma] |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
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Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Deadly Redlands
By M E Cooper
Following
on from Deadly Patterns (also reviewed on this site) Detective
Sergeant Christine Penney is back for another tale of murder and
quilting. Enid is mounting its Redlands Indian Festival, and the
town is awash with visitors. Amid all this activity a young man
is found hanging in a hotel room. Suicide or murder? Chris is convinced
that it is the latter, for the dead man was half-brother to one
of her quilting friends who says that he wouldn't have done it.
Soon, Chris has uncovered several reasons for the man to have been
murdered, and plenty of suspects. Can she find the killer before
her chauvinistic partner Macdonald, and can she fend off her friends'
matchmaking schemes which all seem to end in disaster?
One thing I enjoy about cozy crime is that there
is such an emphasis on a good plot and entertaining characters.
You won't find blood 'n' guts or downbeat "realism" in
here but you will find a real page-turner. Chris herself has graduated
from being a rather bitter divorcee to enjoying the company of her
new country friends. Her problems seem very real and I applaud the
way the characters are allowed to grow and change while leaving
the basic framework of the series intact. There is a love interest
in there this time, but in the background, leaving plenty of room
for a proper crime story. This is a real feelgood book with lively
characters and a tortuous puzzle of a plot to unravel. You will
also find some quilt blocks, a few Native American recipes, and
various snippets of information about both, which might not have
anything to do with crime, but have everything to do with this being
a well-rounded story. I certainly hope that there will be a third.
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