Reviews from DAWN DOWDLE

JANUARY - FEBRUARY  REVIEWS

THE ALPINE SCANDAL
MARY DAHEIM
Ballantine pb 1/08

An obituary is received at the office of The Alpine Advocate, the weekly newspaper in Alpine, Washington, of local resident Elmer Nystrom.  When Emma Lord, publisher, and Vida Runkel, House and Home editor, go to call on Elmer's wife, she tells them he's alive and well.  When they go out to the henhouse to talk to him, they find his dead body lying on the floor half covered with straw.  It is soon discovered that he was murdered.  Strangest part is that his obituary is mailed before he died.  It appears Elmer was well-liked, although that can't be said of his wife or his son, the new orthodontist in town.

Sheriff Milo Dodge ends up in the hospital, so Emma and Vida strive to find but who killed Elmer and why.  As they start investigating, they uncover a few suspects and motives. Since Elmer was killed, there has to be at least one person out there who didn't like him.  Can Emma and Vida uncover the identity of that person without putting themselves in danger?

I really enjoy this series and this was one of my favorite books in it.  I always enjoy when Emma and Vida work together to uncover the killer.  I love the setting of these books.  I'm originally from Washington State and recognize many of the landmarks listed.  I love Emma and her family.  I always enjoy her interactions with her staff as well as the sheriff.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book and series.

 - Dawn Dowdle

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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER  REVIEWS

HAND OF EVIL
J. A.  JANCE   
Touchstone Books / Simon & Schuster  December, 2007

Ali Reynolds has had a tough year.  She's struggling with grief and depression.  In the midst of this, she has to help her friend Dave Homan locate his missing teen daughter, Crystal.  She assists in bringing Crystal home and finds herself babysitting more often than not.  She soon learns that Crystal has been sexually active.  Ali also realizes Crystal witnessed an attack and someone is after her.  The person who was attacked was a good friend of Ali's dad. 

In the meantime, Arabella Ashcroft summons Ali to her house.  Arabella and her mother provided Ali with a scholarship to college years ago, so Ali feels compelled to appear.  Turns out Arabella wants Ali to read her diary from many years ago explaining about the abuse she endured by her stepbrother.  His son has recently threatened to bring these acts to light in order to extort money from her.  Even though Ali is reluctant to get involved, she feels obligated to help out.

In the course of the investigation, Ali also finds out that she has been out of touch with her son and needs to catch up. 

Can Ali help uncover the killer and the attacker without putting herself and others in harm's way? 

I really enjoy this series.  I like Ali and feel the author has done a great job of creating a character that the reader cares about.  I did find the subject matter of this book to be a little harder to read, being the mother of a teenager.  But I know there are so many people who have had these subjects touch their lives, that I know it needs to be discussed.  I thought the author did a good job of getting the information out there without making it too graphic.

I thought Crysta was a well-written character.  She came across as a stubborn teenager but when you removed the layers, you found she was just a scared and confused girl.  I felt she was very believable.

I see that others have complained that Ali didn't have enough of a reason to be involved in these mysteries.  I disagree.  I think Dave put her in the middle of Crystal's situation, and Arabella did the same.  I like how the author weaves the stories together and intertwines some of the people.

Even though I found the subject matter a little tough to read, I really enjoyed this book and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.

 - Dawn Dowdle

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at her website Mystery Lovers Corner.
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