7. A Song for You - Betsy Thornton

Chloe Newcombe #5 (Dudley/Bisbee, Arizona)
Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2008
291 pages
Murder Mystery for Adults
Rating: 5

Wow. I love the way that Betsy Thornton weaves a story, using one major protagonist, then inserting a couple other voices to spice things up a bit. This mystery had me going until almost the end. And the setting – SO much in Tucson, road by road, through Sierra Vista many times, I could see it, I was there. And Bisbee. I need another trip there. She includes the setting as another character. Love it
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And, as usual, she left a few things unsaid, open, ready to add your own slant. Because Chloe has quit her job for the Cochise Country Victim’s Assistance program and become a full-time investigator with a previous fling and cop who has started his own PI company in Sierra Vista. Brian Flynn. Throw in a 17-year old murder, then add another, mix it up with the 10-year old daughter who found her mother 17 years previously…with her head blown off. Raised a hippy, taken by her developer father to the Tucson foothills, where she is now a married preppie. Now throw in the hippie life of Dudley, Arizona (Bisbee, Bisbee!) both now and two decades ago, shake it up with many interesting walks up and down the hills and stairways of an old west town and voila! A recipe for a great murder mystery.

I’ve begun and discarded almost a dozen books in the last couple of weeks, nothing interested me at all, until I found and started this one last night. A winner.