Run a Crooked Mile-Janet LaPierre

Run a Crooked Mile
Janet LaPierre
Perseverance, Apr 07 2009, $14.95
ISBN: 9781880284889

With the death of her husband, Rosemary Mendes decides she needs to start over. Using the money from the life insurance and encouraged by her adult sons while ignoring the rest of the family’s whining she moves to rustic Weaverville, California in the remote northern Trinity Alps. She surprises herself when she becomes active in the community as she planned on being a loner, but the acceptance of the townfolk surprised her while making her feel good.

When another female newcomer Michelle “Mike” Morgan is shot to death in what is reported as a hunting accident, Rosemary has doubts as she is related to many hunters who never mistook a human for a deer. Still she reluctantly adopts Mike's dog Tank. Meanwhile during her latest recurring meal sharing with local Gray Campbell, she learns no one knew much about Mike or her dog. Deciding the escape to Trinity County bonded her to a dead woman she never met; Rosemary investigates who Mike was and why she was murdered; as the outsider believes the hunting accident was a homicide.

Leaving the Port Silva mysteries, Janet LaPierre provides a strong amateur sleuth starring a tough caring widow who is unaware initially of the danger she brings onto herself when she cannot resist the lure of the coincidence of two single females coming to town to start over. The story line is fast-paced, but provides a lucid sense of location as the real town of Weaverville comes vividly alive. Fans will enjoy the misadventures of Rosemary and her adopted “baby” Tank as they investigate Mike’s murder over the objection of Sheriff Gus Angstrom who worries about her safety.

Harriet Klausner