About the Book:
When a history professor is fatally shot at the base of Yellowstone Canyon, seasonal park ranger and former homicide detective Clarence Johnson finds himself roped into the murder investigation. Alongside Special Agent Alison Nance, he quickly realizes they are uncovering more than just a killer.
As Johnson and Nance hunt for the killer, clues gleaned from the professor's research hint at a historic conspiracy involving an ancient relic believed to have been secreted away by royalists during the French Revolution. Their hunt through the wilds of Yellowstone leads them to realize that the professor's death and the missing artifact are intricately connected.
But Johnson and Nance’s suspects are disappearing at an alarming rate, pitting them in a race against time before those determined to do anything to protect the secrets of the past strike again.
My Review:
This is a good debut effort. It is a dual time and I found the historical part slow and not nearly as interesting to read as the contemporary mystery. I have to admit I quite reading the historical parts and just jumped to the next contemporary section. The character development in the contemporary mystery was so good the historical sections became a little boring to me. Clarence is a great sleuth. He is smart and can give a snappy responses. That made for some great dialogue. He has that circumventing reasoning that makes the one listening to him think he is way off base but we find out he knows what he is taking about. A narrow minded DEA agent is a good foil for him and enables him to give some great one line responses.
I liked the contemporary aspect of the mystery but did not find the historical part captivating. There are more novels planned for this series and I liked Clarence so much I'll be watching for them.
My rating: 4/5 stars.
About the Author:
Mark Thielman writes primarily crime fiction and serves as a magistrate judge in Ft. Worth, Texas. The Devil's Kitchen is his debut novel. His short fiction pieces have been been named to the honor roll of America's best mysteries on multiple occasions. He and his wife like to visit national parks, the setting of the Johnson and Nance series. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and serves as president of the local chapter of Sisters in Crime.
(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)
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