Karen S. (BoysMom) - My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excitement stirs things up in a small California mountain town and leads to murder!
Spirit Woman Legends and Lies is the second novel in veteran author Elaine Faber's new mystical cozy series, the Spirit Woman Mystery Adventures, but it can easily be enjoyed without reading the previous book. There's a lot to appreciate: a charming small town in the Sierra Mountains Foothills, an interesting community of nice people (for the most part), and a delightful couple as main characters, which all combined to make this book an extremely comfortable yet compelling story about a murder.
Lou Shoemaker, a widow of three years, is the owner and operator of The Pooper Scooper, the local septic tank disposal service, earning her a shot at the title of "Character with the Most Off-beat Profession in a Cozy Mystery." She's recently become engaged to Deputy Sheriff Nate Darling, the law enforcement half of their detecting couple equation. These characters are so compatible; I had no trouble at all seeing them as a couple, and they are probably some of the nicest fictional people ever. I was surprised by their compassion as well as their restraint in dealing with some of the hotheaded crazies in the story.The murder occurs off the page, but the results (when the victim's body is found) are gruesome. The corpse, exposed to the elements and subjected to predation, makes finding solid clues to what happened and who did it a big problem. A major plot twist or two kept things very interesting, especially as the spoiled crime scene and lack of evidence initially left few viable suspects on the ground. Nate takes the lead, and eventually, there are some timely leads in the case and appearances by the Spirit Woman and her animal companions that keep the pace up and the investigation moving forward. There is a side story involving Lou's volunteer work at the newly-opened veterans' hospital, which really twisted my heart.
I recommend SPIRIT WOMAN LEGEND AND LIES to cozy mystery readers who enjoy a touch of the paranormal in the stories.I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
