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An entertaining mystery, with a barrel of red herrings, a passel of dead bodies, eccentric prospectors & well-heeled land-grabbers.
Maren O'Connor encounters corpses, diamonds & wills at a ski hotel in California's mountains.
When her elderly Uncle Jake pleads for her help in running his tourist lodge in the Tahoe area, Maren O'Connor reluctantly agrees. Little does Maren know, when she encounters a body in her cabin, that this is only the first of several murders, whose solutions uncover painful family secrets.
The Madd Mountain Murders was selected as the semi-finalist in the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Chapter 1
The voice on my phone that early Sunday morning was cranky and bossy. Jake wanted me at Tall Trees now, this instant, shake-a-leg! "I need you, Maren, dammit! Don’t argue!" He was almost shouting. "Ella’s giving me fits with her lame leg, Charlie’s disappeared…"
Lame leg? What was wrong with Ella’s leg? And Charlie had disappeared? "Who’s Charlie?" I asked. It was hard keeping up here. I was still bleary-eyed, in pajamas, yawning.
Jake ignored my question. He was good at that. "The police are threatening to dig up the entire cellar. It’s all too much. We’re no spring chickens anymore, you know."
"Dig up the cellar!" That woke me up. "Jake, you have to tell me what’s going on. Why should I just pack up and leave here without some idea of what I’m getting into there?" I began to feel cranky myself. Being single, female, and a relative should not make one available at a moment’s notice.
Jake was my eighty-...
The Madd Mountain Murders is a fun mystery with credible characters, lots of action and a plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes. Recommended for anyone who likes to cozy up with a good mystery.
Betsy Wachter, Librarian, Sunnyvale, CA
When her elderly Uncle Jake pleads for her help in running his tourist lodge in the Tahoe area, Maren O'Connor reluctantly agrees. Little does Maren know, when she encounters a body in her cabin, that this is only the first of several murders, whose solutions uncover painful family secrets. The discovery of a rough diamond in a hidden compartment of a desk leads Maren to realize that in this instance money is truly the root of all evil. She and her sidekicks must follow the trail of the killer and his hostage into a cave deep in a mountainside, where only Maren's quick thinking saves them from being victims as well. A well-described setting and interesting characters will keep the reader on the edge of his seat until the unexpected conclusion.
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