book details

Book: XMAS MARKS THE SPOT - Cats and dogs and super-sleuthing - Merry Summerfield Cozy Mysteries Book 2 by Kris Pearson

categories: Book, Cats and Dogs, Seaside Village, Super-Sleuthing, Woman Sleuth, New Zealand Setting, Secrets and Lies, Village Atmosphere, Quirky Characters, Solving a Murder, Drizzle Bay, Cattle Rustlers, Cozy Mystery

Kris Pearson

about this book: This is Merry Summerfield's second adventure as an amateur sleuth. Her boring brother, Graham, is in Australia at a legal conference so she borrows his Mercedes to have room to transport the Vicar's sister's luggage from the airport to drowsy Drizzle Bay.

The garage smells rather strange. The two family spaniels are very excited. And once she raises the lid of the trunk she finds a quarter of a dead cow. On it is a note, presumably intended for her absent brother. Once again she has to contact Detective Bruce Carver - he of the thinning hair and bitten fingernails.

Obviously there's another three quarters of the cow somewhere. It seems to have come from Lord Drizzle's farm. And on the beach, just outside the farm fence, there is a body laid out on a big X-shaped tree. Is it the man referred to in the note? Is it someone else? How did he die? Who has stolen and slaughtered the cow?

This is a cozy mystery with rather more meat on its bones than many. Once again you'll meet Vicar Paul McCreagh, the Americans who own the Burkeville Bar and Cafe, Lord Drizzle of Drizzle Farm, and many of the other locals. I hope you'll enjoy the realistic style of it, and especially I hope you'll enjoy the final denouement.