Dollycas's Thoughts
Kate Fox works the family farm and her husband Ted is the sheriff in Grand County, Nebraska. Kate is right in the middle of calving season and Ted is in the middle of a campaign to keep his job. Their teenage niece Carly lives with them.
One night Kate returns to the house to hear a ringing phone, it was the sheriff's phone that rings when Ted doesn't answer his cell phone. She answers to hear a woman screaming. She recognized the voice, not one of her favorite people, but Roxy was calling for help. Rozy rapidly tells her father-in-law, Eldon Edwards is dead and that Kate's husband Ted has been shot. Kate calls the sheriff from the neighboring county, Milo Ferguson while on her way to the scene. She arrived just in time to follow the ambulance to the hospital 90 miles away.
Then she found out Ted was Milo's prime suspect and that Ted may never walk again. Determined to prove her husband's innocence she barrells headlong into an investigation. An investigation that uncovers profound secrets. An investigation that could get her killed.
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Kate Fox is a strong woman and a strong protagonist. Her entire life turns upside down when her husband is shot and she tries to find the person responsible. Ted is the sheriff of a vast territory in the Nebraska Sandhills. It's a very low crime area and he had a very safe job until the day it wasn't. Kate is part of a big close-knit loving family. Ted's an only child with a very controlling mother. These characters are surrounded by a large supporting cast. All the characters are well-defined with purpose in the story. The core characters developed well throughout the book with room to grow as the series continues.
Ms. Baker has written a very complicated mystery with a plethora of twists and turns. What appeared to be a very easy case to solve truly wasn't. Kate impressed me with her multitasking. She had a little help with the calves but her mother-in-law kept heaping things on her to do, all while trying to ascertain who killed Eldon, shot and framed her husband for the deed, and while trying to find her niece who has gone missing. I was as shocked as Kate when all was revealed.
Stripped Bare is a compelling mystery with a stellar protagonist in Kate Fox. The remote rural setting of the Nebraska Sandhills is unique with a wild west feel at times. The story dropped a few clues about Kate's future and the final page had me smiling ear to ear. I have added the entire Kate Fox series to my wish list. I hope to read and review book 2, Dark Signal soon.
Kate Fox works the family farm and her husband Ted is the sheriff in Grand County, Nebraska. Kate is right in the middle of calving season and Ted is in the middle of a campaign to keep his job. Their teenage niece Carly lives with them.
One night Kate returns to the house to hear a ringing phone, it was the sheriff's phone that rings when Ted doesn't answer his cell phone. She answers to hear a woman screaming. She recognized the voice, not one of her favorite people, but Roxy was calling for help. Rozy rapidly tells her father-in-law, Eldon Edwards is dead and that Kate's husband Ted has been shot. Kate calls the sheriff from the neighboring county, Milo Ferguson while on her way to the scene. She arrived just in time to follow the ambulance to the hospital 90 miles away.
Then she found out Ted was Milo's prime suspect and that Ted may never walk again. Determined to prove her husband's innocence she barrells headlong into an investigation. An investigation that uncovers profound secrets. An investigation that could get her killed.
_____
Kate Fox is a strong woman and a strong protagonist. Her entire life turns upside down when her husband is shot and she tries to find the person responsible. Ted is the sheriff of a vast territory in the Nebraska Sandhills. It's a very low crime area and he had a very safe job until the day it wasn't. Kate is part of a big close-knit loving family. Ted's an only child with a very controlling mother. These characters are surrounded by a large supporting cast. All the characters are well-defined with purpose in the story. The core characters developed well throughout the book with room to grow as the series continues.
Ms. Baker has written a very complicated mystery with a plethora of twists and turns. What appeared to be a very easy case to solve truly wasn't. Kate impressed me with her multitasking. She had a little help with the calves but her mother-in-law kept heaping things on her to do, all while trying to ascertain who killed Eldon, shot and framed her husband for the deed, and while trying to find her niece who has gone missing. I was as shocked as Kate when all was revealed.
Stripped Bare is a compelling mystery with a stellar protagonist in Kate Fox. The remote rural setting of the Nebraska Sandhills is unique with a wild west feel at times. The story dropped a few clues about Kate's future and the final page had me smiling ear to ear. I have added the entire Kate Fox series to my wish list. I hope to read and review book 2, Dark Signal soon.
I always like a Western-based mystery and I saw some blurbs for this book that said "female Longmire", and I thought it sounded interesting. It is a fun read but IMO this first in the series is shaded a tad more towards Donna Andrews than Craig Johnson. There's a really large cast of relatives and other characters, some of them pretty quirky, so large I was wishing for a character list and family tree. Kate's troubles are only starting when she gets the call that her husband has been shot; the author really piles it on. Kate, although spending most of the book mentally wailing "What I am gonna do?", just puts her head down and keeps going. I did like her occasional indecisiveness - who among us knows the right action immediately? The family relationships were nice even if I had trouble keeping track. Good sense of place too. I felt there were a few plot points that didn't get answered, but I really enjoyed the ending.
I probably won't go on with the series, but it's purely a matter of personal taste. I couldn't really tell what "tone" I should be reading in...is it light-hearted? Or serious? On the one hand, there's Kate's hippy mother making nude snow angels, and on the other there's a slaughtered newborn calf on her driveway as a warning.
I probably won't go on with the series, but it's purely a matter of personal taste. I couldn't really tell what "tone" I should be reading in...is it light-hearted? Or serious? On the one hand, there's Kate's hippy mother making nude snow angels, and on the other there's a slaughtered newborn calf on her driveway as a warning.
