Dead on Ice: A Lovers in Crime Mystery
Written by: Lauren Carr
Narrated by: Mike Alger
Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
Series: Lovers in Crime Mysteries, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:11-23-16
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0
Publisher's Summary
Spunky Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a legendary star of pornographic films, whose body turns up in an abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to her lover, Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was located in his cousin's basement. It doesn't take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué star's roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept her hometown off her road map, too - because when this starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal homecoming.
©2012 Terri Lynn Zaleski (P)2016 Terri Lynn Zaleski
Review:
Cameron Gates is a sharp, spunky homicide detective. She is dating Joshua Thornton, a Philadelphia State Attorney, former naval officer. They are both concerned when Joshua’s cousin fails to show for church because he is always at every church event. They discover that he has died of an accident in his hoarder home. The church is the beneficiary of his Will and a group come to the home to clear out the massive collection. One of the elderly ladies drags Cameron to the basement where she discovers a bomb. The house is evacuated before the explosion so everyone escapes safely. As they begin to clear the ashes they discover a freezer that survived the blast with a grizzly secret inside: a woman “dead on ice”.
The woman turns out to be a pornographic star from the 1980s, who, not so coincidentally, had left the community shortly after high school graduation. Another teen girl had gone missing on prom night. The missing girl’s body had been found seven or so years earlier but the case was still a cold case. Cameron and Joshua are soon on the case to solve both murders. There are plenty of suspects as the friendships and rivalries of high school are revealed.
This was great fun with the quirky suspects, beyond the mob from whom the porn star was running. There is a cougar winery owner who makes passes at Joshua’s sixteen-year-old son, Donnie, two determined church ladies who have carried their teenage rival forward to their present-day bickering, and a heartbroken boyfriend who may have wanted revenge. The clues lead back and forth until the final chapter.
I had listened to two other books that included these characters in a 'sister series', the Thorny Rose Series, and found it fun to listen to the story that sets off the career of this couple as “the Lovers in Crime”. The romance is warm and growing even with the problems of Cameron’s cat, Irving, who looks more like a skunk and views Joshua as a rival. Ms. Carr does a great job with her mystery series. She provides strong characters, quirky secondary characters and lots of twists in the mysteries. I recommend Ms. Carr’s books for good mystery reading and or listening.
Audio Notes: Mike Alger does a good job narrating the character personalities. The narration makes this move at a good clip and captures the humor and emotions of the story. I enjoyed listening.
I received this audio book through iRead Book Tours for tour review. This qualifies for my 2017 Audio Book Challenge
A broadcast veteran of over 30 years, Mike Alger is best known as the award-winning Chief Meteorologist for KTVN-TV in Reno, NV. He is also a successful author, having penned the Mystery-Thriller novel "Snow Storm," and is the narrator of the audiobook of the same name.
Enter the Giveaway!
Ends July 22, 2017
