Third Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery Proves it! Patricia Skalka is Fantastic Mystery Writer!

Dave Cubiak cast his line into the gray water and waited. Perched on the rock ledge along the Green Bay shore, he'd waited all afternoon: For the sun to break through the clouds. For a fish to take his hook. For the autumn leaves to be done with their annual display of color. For the tourism to pack their bags and depart. For Cate to come home.
Watching the sun fall toward the horizon, Cubiak checked the time. It was late and he'd missed pretty much all of Sunday's big football game: The Bears versus the Packers or, because this was Wisconsin, the Packers versus the Bears. He'd done so deliberately, even though skipping the match was an unforgivable sin in his adopted Door County. He'd have to pick up the highlights later. A few of the important details would provide fodder for a week's worth of small talk around the department and elsewhere on the peninsula.
The day was cooler than predicted, and Cubiak wished he'd worn gloves and an extra layer. He tugged his collar up to his chin and reeled in his line. For the third time in thirty minutes, the bait was gone. Maybe he should try a lure, he thought, and reached for his dented red tackle box. As Cubiak rummaged through the jumble of jigs and plugs, he heard a rustling in the bushes and looked up to see a white bundle sail over his head toward the bay.
The sack hit the water about fifteen feet from shore.
"What the hell?" he said.
He figured it was a plastic bad filled with trash and wondered if he could snag it with his line.
Then something inside the bag wiggled, and there was a sound, a cry like that of a baby.
Cubiak struggled free of his boots and jacket and jumped in.
The momentum pulled him under, and the sheer cold of the water left him unable to move. After a panicky moment, he began to flail about. Pumping his arms and kicking his legs, he fought his way up and surfaced ten feet from the bag. It was sinking fast. Never much of a swimmer, Cubiak stroked desperately toward it. When he was within an arm's length, the bag went under, trailing the rope that knotted it closed. Cubiak lunged for the cord and snared the end between his numbing fingers...It was an old pillowcase. Cubiak loosed the rope and began unknotting the top. The cries had ceased. Was he too late?
Cubiak peered inside and then fell back on his heels. He'd braved the icy water to save a litter of newborn kittens. The sheriff would have laughed if his teeth hadn't started chattering. Who else would go out for fish and come back with kittens?

Still, it was a cruel thing to do to such helpless creatures. And Cubiak had no tolerance for wanton cruelty. Which is why when he saw a familiar blue pickup outside the Tipsy Too, he swerved into the parking lot... Dubiak didn't care that he appeared ridiculous to the crowd in the car. Ignoring the sniggers and sideways glances from the clientele, he searched through the cluster of regulars until he found the owner of the truck...The sheriff slapped the wet pillowcase in front of the burly, bearded man. "This yours?" 

~~~

Death in Cold Water:

A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery

By Patricia Skalka

University of Wisconsin Press published the third in series from Patricia Skalka, who has quickly gained recognition for her outstanding mystery series. It took me until this novel to identify Dave Cubiak in my mind... If you have either read the Jesse Stone series by my top favorite author, Robert B. Parker, or seen the television movie series, I think you'll see a similarity in the two characters, making Tom Selleck the perfect man to play Cubiak. I loved Parker's Spencer series first, but Jesse Stone quickly won a place in my heart, just as Dave Cubiak has... If you're a mystery fan, Patricia Skalka should become a must-read for you!

Skalka quickly pulls readers in when the son of a local legend is pulled in for drunk driving. He was actually already on his way to report that his father was missing. Of course Cubiak didn't know who the man was and his deputy, who is an excellent character that adds greatly to the duo law officers, quickly explained that he was called "Mr. Packer" due to his strong loyalty and financial support of the team.

The missing person was Gerald Sneider who had made a fortune in lumber. His son and family were with him in Chicago at the latest game when his father got a phone call. 

Andrew had been amazed that his father actually left since the game was tied and he'd never left a game until it was completely over. Andrew responded to Cubiak's question, that he'd never asked his father about his leaving--that he'd learned long ago not to question or cross his father... Great! How would they even get a beginning hold on where his father had gone?!

As Cubiak began his investigation at the victim's home, they discovered a super bowl ring hanging from a light fixture with a thin piece of cardboard underneath with the words. Pay or he dies...

But this is not a simple kidnapping...

One of the things I most enjoy about this series is that the author takes the time to provide readers with parts of the main character's life. He becomes real to us and we come to care about him. For me, it is very important that the characters come alive so that we can more fully sink into the story... Cubiak had lost his family and had moved to Wisconsin to a small town where he was trying to make a new life for himself. At least he seemed to be making it on the job, but his personal life was still in question...

Maybe last night's business with
Andrew Sneider had been a
dream and in reality he and Cate
had flown to the tropics as they'd
so often planned. Or they were
starting another morning at
home in Door County with Cate
in the kitchen fixing breakfast.
When he'd returned from Ellison
Bay, Cubiak had expected to find
her sound asleep, with Burch
curled up at the foot of the bed.
But at a quarter past three,
when he finally got in, the house
was empty. Had Cate come in
later or had he spent the night
at her condo? He ran a hand
over her side of the bed. The
sheet was smooth and cool.
~~~

Cubiak woke to the smell of coffee and the sound of music, classical guitar, floating in from the hall. He was groggy and lay still, imaging himself somewhere far from his little house on the Lake Michigan shore. Mexico, perhaps, Or Belize, even. He'd never been to either but after listening to Rowe's chatter about his vacation the sheriff couldn't help but fantasize about palm trees and water sports, the kind that didn't include swimming into shark caves.

In the shower, Cubiak faced up to the real truth about why he'd been fishing the day before. Yesterday was the day his daughter should have turned eleven. He'd spent the afternoon away from home to avoid seeing reminders of Chicago flashed on the TV screen during the game and being reminded of Alexis' birthday, but...all he could think of was the cake lit with candles, the party, and her gleeful delight as she ripped the wrapping off her gifts. This was the nature of grief and its litany of perpetual reminders.

He was still learning what it meant to forfeit one reality, to lose those he loved, and still trying to understand what it meant to try to create a different and separate existence. How to be faithful to what had been, while being true to what was now. His friend Evelyn Bathard had found a way forward following the death of his wife. Could Cubiak do the same? And how did Cate fit in?...

~~~

Still this case was bound to be different because of the victim. And he was not surprised when the Packers became interested in the case, after all, he was a major funding source for them.
And the FBI soon got involved...

But it was Butch, Cubiak's dog that moved the case forward when he, during a trip to the beach with Cubiak and Cate, had found a bone, probably human... And that's when the story moved from a simple kidnapping mystery to an unbelievable murder cold case!

They'd waited for him, Cubiak realized. After thanking them, he approached the platform for one last look. Bathard had talked about Milton's concept of good and evil, but all Cubiak could think of were Dante's nine circles of hell. Those who acted violently against others were consigned to the outer ring of the seventh circle, where they were immersed in a river of boiling blood and fire for eternity. A fitting punishment for...., Cubiak thought.     The sheriff bowed his head and prayed...

~~~

Skalka has moved into a darker topic in this novel, but one that constantly needs to be brought to light. Thank you, Patricia...

This author continues to get better and better, providing a novel that pulls together wonderful characters, a beautiful setting, and a masterful mystery that places her as one of the best in the genre, in my opinion. You really need to check her out... This book is highly recommended!

GABixlerReviews

See my Review...http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2014/08/new-door-county-mystery-series-by.html

See my Review of Second Book

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2015/06/second-in-dave-cubiak-door-county.html

U of Wisconsin Press Brings Another Great Mystery, by James Devita, From Beautiful Wisconsin!

Wisconsin - Alfalfa and Corn Fields 

J. McClay/Killing/American Forum

The Killing of Deborah Ellison

Three and a half hours northwest of Chicago, deep in the hinterlands of Wisconsin, I drove past a sign that said Welcome to Winsome Bay, Home of the Wildcats. As I took the next left, a rural, angled lane, the inside of my car suddenly shadowed and cooled as an endless emerald wall appeared out my driver's-side window: Corn, corn was everywhere, thick leaved, rainforest green, eight to ten feet tall. Every square foot of earth in Winsome Bay that didn't have a house on it seemed to have corn growing on it. If not corn, then soybeans or hay: timothy grass, bluestem, red clover, alfalfa. I continued driving, passing field after field of green gridded farmland, the crops pushing right up to the backyards of homes and businesses. 
West of the Wisconsin River, just below Friendship, Winsome Bay doesn't have a bay at all but a medium-sized lake, one of over fifteen thousand left behind after the glaciers melted away  some ten thousand years ago. No one in the town seemed to know why the lake was called a bay when it wasn't one, and no one really seemed very interested in the question. The town had a population of 632 and boasted a high school, a public swimming pool, three churches, and four bars. A sign on the local liquor store said Wine, Cheese, and Bait.
Night crawlers were $2.50 a dozen.

Jillian saved her document, scrolled up to the top, and began editing the first few paragraphs of her new story. At five that morning, she had hobbled into her sweatpants, hustled down the stairs to the kitchen, poured a thermos of coffee--preperked on a timer--and headed out the back door, wide awake and ready to work...

~~~

A Winsome Murder

By James Devita

I was just a short way into the book when Jillian McClay appeared and begged permission to do the story on a death of a woman in Wisconsin. Almost immediately I had concluded she was the main character and, through her article writing, would solve the case!

Unfortunately, she was later murdered for writing the articles! She had stirred up a lot of attention of something that had happened recently, but trailed back in history to when it actually started... Needless to say, this novel kept me totally involved in the whodunit! And it was only near the end that I began to hone in on the serial killer. Cool, right?!

Melissa Becker was the first girl that
Deborah Ellison ever kissed. She'd
kissed girls before, of course, when
she was little, at sleepovers, lying under
blankets on living room floors or
sleeping in the same bed with a play-
mate, but that was always practice, as
they giggled it, practice to kiss the
boys. But for Deborah, it wasn't
practice. She enjoyed it. She craved
the tingly feeling she felt when a little
friend's hand accidentally brushed
her body while whispering sixth grade
secrets. There, nested into each other
so close that each could smell the other's
candied breath. Deborah felt an over-
whelming desire to be the other girl,
to be all of her, to dissolve within her...
~~~

But there was also a tender story of love, which starts right at the beginning, that grips readers' sympathy and leaves a nagging feeling that somehow this love story is part of the murder case now underway...

Melissa was Deborah's first love. The kind of love that marks you for life, the kind of love that can damage you. She'd felt this way about Melissa ever since middle school, but never dared to say a word...

It was young, new love when they first kissed... But it turned into tragedy when Melissa was diagnosed with terminal cancer... Deborah was never the same after that--but it was for more reasons than that her first and best friend had died. It was because Deborah was now "outed" and the family and community were not the least bit sympathetic. It didn't take long for Deborah to leave town as soon as she was old enough... Unfortunately, she got into the same type of trouble there  that many young girls get into... She had hooked up with another girl, but then that girl introduced her to the man that would make all the arrangements for his new stable addition...

Nobody knew when and why Deborah Ellison had returned to Winsome Bay.

Using the serial articles on the murder that Jillian had begun, readers begin to meet the people in Deborah's home town... But not many were willing to even talk to her... And the police was not much help. In fact, Deborah's father, Tom Ellison, a member of the police force, was grieving and had no desire for the type of publicity that Jillian was outlining!

And right about then, it started to get strange...

Jillian's boss became involved! He received an envelope containing the hand of what clearly was a woman... It was a padded envelope that was often used to send submissions for consideration--Not This Time!

Soon Detective Mangan, who is the character that claims dominance in readers' minds as he, as his partner says, "creeps" individuals out as he stops and stares...and accepts the literary words that comes into his mind... Mangan was involved, and stayed involved, traveling as things got more complicated... And it was the police who discovered the note that had been stuffed at the bottom of that envelope

And who has cut those pretty fingers off?

Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears.

What accursed hand hath made thee handless?

~~~

This simple overture was selected to help we who have not studied Shakespeare quite so effectively as the author and his character Mangan,  to allow us to see the potential connections to the cases in Wisconsin and Chicago...

And then it was discovered that the police in Wisconsin had kept it quiet that the hand had been removed from Ellison's body... Was these the words of the killer...or were they the words that sounded from Mangan's mind?

Now this one addition to the novel makes it a cut above the normal police procedural or serial killer hunt. Mangan has an avid interest in literature and, throughout the book, quotes from Shakespeare, Melville and other classical authors come into his head, most times bringing words that could be from multiple Shakespearean plays or even from a different author...But they come in response to what he's digesting from a crime scene, which results in some literary quote(s) that supports what the crime or emotions behind the crime might be. A truly intriguing concept that will expose readers to many of the plays of Shakespeare, albeit, the bloody parts...

Actually, the lines above are samples of Mangan's thinking...Here's what the note said...

SHE WAS CHOSEN.

YOU WERE CHOSEN.

EVERY TICK OF TIME

SINCE THE UNIVERSE BEGAN

HAS GUIDED YOU TO THIS MOMENT,

RIGHT NOW READING THESE WORDS.

YOU THINK YOU CHOOSE.

YOU CHOOSE NOTHING.

I AM THE CHOOSER

I WILL FIND THEM OUT.

THE FIRST WAS WINSOME.

~~~

Of course, everybody started trying to figure out what it was meant to really say. It was only by accident that the word Winsome was finally connected to the Wisconsin murder... This individual by the time he was finished was formally classified as a serial killer.

But the investigation, even when Mangan and his partner joined with officers in Wisconsin, was moving very slow... And every once in awhile, Mangan stops and stares at the floor...his mind picking through all of the literature he has studied all his life, trying to seize on a potential clue or pattern similar to what has happened in today's world...

...and I...with tears...do wash...the blood away...in my heart...vengeance...

in my heart...death in my hand...Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head....

~~~

Like Patricia Skalka with her wonderful Door County Mystery Series, this time the University of Wisconsin Press brings an exceptionally well-written mystery with literary additions that provocatively grips readers minds as Detective Mangan explores similar acts of violence from the greats of classical literature.

The challenge of correlating the bits and pieces of the literary excerpts brought an unexpected challenge to this reader's normal clue-search technique that forced a tantalizing look into the many plays from Shakespeare and Melville, which resulted in a added bit of learning normally not provided in a mystery novel. Of course, that could have also prevented me from actually identifying whodunit! LOL... But I didn't mind. I loved the literary police officer Mangan and hope to see him in future books... Highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

James DeVita, an author and actor, has published two award-winning novels for young readers as well as numerous plays. He is the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and a member of The Dramatists Guild and Actor's Equity Association. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and two children.

New Door County Mystery Series by Patricia Skalka Promises Much for Mystery Lovers! Or, just come from the Fish Boil

Ever been to Wisconsin? I haven't, but after reading this book it sounds like a wonderful place to consider for a vacation! And I even found this beautiful aerial video which shows a number of the locations.. .where murder took place! Not one, not two... well, I'll tell you more later... But be prepared to learn about the setting of the series... It reminded me of Nevada Barr, who as a forest ranger always shared about the particular state forest at which she was stationed...
And, yes, our main character, Dave Cubiak, starts out working as a ranger, but by the end of the book, he's back as a cop!

Death Stalks Door County:

A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery

By Patricia Skalka

Johnson started and pushed away from the tower. Rain or was it tears glistened on his weathered face. "Looks like some kid took a nose dive off the top." The park super stuck out his chin as if challenging his new assistant to disagree. Cubiak said nothing. "He's cold. I can't find a pulse," Johnson went on. "You want to check?" No." Damp with sweat, Cubiak shuddered. He didn't need to look any closer. The odd twist to the victim's neck told him enough. Maybe you should." Cubiak shook his head. He hadn't been near a dead body in two years, not since his family had been killed. "Have you called the sheriff?" "Can't, Radio's busted. You'll have to get him from the station."

The killer might have taken the tour of the State Park and planned to later take his victim up to the top of Eagle Tower, or maybe it had been an accidental meeting... But by the time the autopsy had been done, some considered it the first murder, even if the sheriff had declared it an accident and did little further investigation.

Halverson brandished the victim's wallet in the
air. "Anybody know this guy? Names's Wisby.
Lawrence Wisby. He's from Illinois...
Despite the damp cold, a layer of sweat crystallized
on Cubiak's neck. Nausea toiled his gut. He
imagined the others watching him, but when he
looked, the coroner was again kneeling next to the
body and the sheriff was grilling Johnson for
details of the gruesome discovery...
In an uneasy lull, Cubiak spoke. "I recognize
the name. Wisby. Lawrence Wisby." He swallowed
hard and when he went on, the words came fast,
as if they were toxic and had to be spat out quickly.
"His brother killed my wife and daughter."
~~~

Cubiak seemed to be right back where he had been prior to his relocation to Wisconsin as his partner and friend had suggested. They both thought that a short stint away was needed. Cubiak had been drinking far too much since his wife and daughter were killed by a DUI. The guy was in prison, but that had not been enough to take away the pain, anger, and helplessness that Cubiak was drowning in...so he had used alcohol just to deaden the drowning... Now here he was, barely on the job, and they find a dead body that apparently had fallen from the forest fire tower. Cubiak took one look at the body and knew that its placement would not have been possible if he had jumped... But he definitely was not responsible for handling this investigation!

Yet...

The other thing about that body when Cubiak heard the man's name...well, it was the brother, Lawrence Wisby, of the man who had killed his family... Of course, Cubiak was immediately suspected, but as facts were compiled, he could breathe a little easier during the day, but his dream was back...the one that had plagued him since his family had died...

Cubiak had just sat down at the counter of one of his favorite diners when Evangeline had poured his coffee and mentioned about the boy being found. The next thing they heard was a huge blast and they both started running... The next murder had just occurred.

There's a tough old bird for you,.. "Good ol' Benny. Love him or hate him...  His true love, the Betsy Ross."

The explosion blew a crater into the water and rocked the diner. Under a cascade of splintering glass, Cubiak dove to the floor. He counted to ten out of  military habit and then scrambled to his feet. "You okay?" he called to Evangeline, who ws plastered ghostlike against the back wall... Cobiak bolted out the door and raced toward the ugly orangeball of fire dancing on the water. Thick black smoke barreled upward from the flames, releasing the sharp smell oif creosote into the air.

~~~

...the Reverend Waldo Thorenson, in the
small yard between the parsonage and the
church thus delaying the start of the service...
"Benjamin Macklin was not a man of God.
He doesn't  deserve church burial," they
insisted all of a voice. "What will people
think?" trumpted one, the obviously ring-
leader,...
"They will think we are good Christians,"
Thorenson replied evenly...
The women fell into a shocked silence,
though Miss Cooper was quick to recover.
"You're an avowed abstainer. How can
you eulogize a confirmed drunk?"
"Why don't you come in and see?"
Thorensen said...
~~~

And then another, this time, a female teenager is killed. Everybody is upset not only because of the deaths but because the annual festival is about to start. This is the town's primary source of income for all businesses and nobody can afford to have something stop the activities!

Just as Cubiak had, I stopped to ponder what happened at Benny's funeral. It seems that there are always church members, no matter what church, who never hesitate to voice their personal opinion against the decisions of the pastor. But the issue Cubiak confronted was more personal, as the parents of  the Wisby boys were there. He didn't say anything, but he couldn't stop himself from standing where they could see him, and falter, as he made them remember that their other son was the man who had ensured Cubiak had to face the funeral of his wife and daughter... Would he ever get over it?

And then the next morning he again had to face something he didn't want to. His boss had delegated the meeting regarding the July celebration to Cubiak! He had to attend the meeting at Beck's house as a command performance...

Actually, the event sounded like a great occasion, The celebration kicked off the official summer session for what many called the "Cape Code of the Midwest" and would bring thousands into the area and into the park...
But Cubiak was not convinced that the terror had ended... So he soon found himself in charge of security for the event, including the staff of the Sheriff's office. And nobody was given a choice. Cubiak would be fired if he didn't accept the assignment...
And then they started coming!

 

 

The fish boil was a Scandinavian tradition imported to Door County as an efficient and economical way to feed settlers, logging teams, and fishing crews at the end of the workday. It became a popular tourist attraction, and at the festival it was transformed into high culinary art. This was no small undertaking. On a long, narrow stretch of sand, ten campfires burned, each one straddled by a raised metal frame that held an oversized black from kettle filled with salted water. A crew of men directed by Les Caruthers fed pieces of dried wood into the flames to heat the water.
Outfitted in a yellow slicker with matching pants, tall heavy boots and a fisherman's cap pulled tight over his ears. Caruthers waves a flag. When the water began to simmer, he blew on a sailor's whistle. At the signal, the boil masters, twenty burly men i white chef's hats, emerged from the shadows. The cooks bowed to the crowd, then paired off and carried in ten large metal baskets filled with small red potatoes. One  container was ceremoniously lowered into each cauldron. While the potatoes cooked, the chefs stood arms akimbo and sang sea chanteys to entertain the hungry diners.

They had just finished one of the numbers when Caruthers gave another toot, a signal for onions to be added to the broth. After more songs and another blast from
Caruthers, the men carried in a second set of smaller baskets, brimming with chunks of locally caught whitefish, and set them into the kettles.
A cooking fires whipped up and licked the sides of the kettles. A gray foam of fish oil formed over the surface of the roiling water.
Caruthers blew a long and two shorts. "Boil over," he yelled as the chefs tossed kerosene onto the fires. Flames skyrocketed into the air. The supercharged water bulled over the sides of the cauldrons, spilling fish oil onto the burning logs and sending plumes of black smoke into the air. The crowd cheered. When the last whistle sounded, the boil masters, still working in pairs, slid heavy metal poles through the wire handles and lifted the heavy baskets from the kettles. Water streamed off the fish--the thick fillets, sweet and delicate, cooked to perfection--as the cooks carried the baskets from the beach to the tents where they sere set on solid wooden tables that bore the scars from past boils. Using red, white, and blue plastic dishes, the local ladies served up the potatoes, onions, and fish, the famous Door County fish boil dinner--each meal complete with a slice of cherry pie.

The first visitor killed was visiting the lighthouse. When they found him, he was nailed to the door with an arrow holding him up...

Cubiak jogged up the trail. The forest was hushed, void of the usual early-morning chatter of birds and squirrels. At the top of the rise, the path emerged in a small clearing and the view opened to the tower. From a distance of fifty feet, Cubiak confronted the madness that had stilled the forest and frightened his boss.
A man, tall and angular, in worn jeans and torn sweatshirt, was skewered to the shiny oak door of the building. An arrow pierced his chest. Blood flowed down his torso and legs and pooled on the ground...
~~~

And then on the last day, when a race was scheduled,  a sniper started shooting...


Got to say that this writer presents us with a literary mystery that will in no way give you a hint... Sure, you'll get some ideas, and Cubiak will interview many and even outright declare they had the motive, the means...and all that jazz...

But I guarantee you're not going to guess in advance who was behind the terror that stormed into Door County and never let up until everybody was...gone...

This is the debut of a new series. I loved the main character and hope he stays there in Door County for the long haul...Might even schedule a trip during the annual festival... Wanna come? Cause, after all, this is just fiction... Enjoy!


GABixlerReviews

A lifelong Chicagoan, Patricia Skalka is a former Reader’s Digest Staff Writer and award-winning freelancer, as well as one-time magazine editor, ghost writer and writing instructor. Her nonfiction book credits includeNurses On Our Own, the true-story of two pioneering, local nurse practitioners. Death Stalks Door County, released in May 2014, marks her fiction debut.

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Latest in Cozy Series Flavored With Chick Lit...Cool Merge!

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

"Didn't you hear about the agent who was shot through the
head and left to die in a penthouse condo just last week?
And another one yesterday, first a head-shot and then a
tumble down a split-level colonial's flight of basement
stairs."...Across this great country of ours more than
twenty agents were killed on the job last year....they're now
carrying guns to protect themselves while working."

Triple Shot


By Sandra Balzo

I hadn't had the chance to read Balzo since the beginning of her Maggy Thorsen Mystery series, so I was pleasantly surprised that her latest, Triple Shot had taken on the maturity of a seasoned, well-grounded series that both feels comfortable to sink into, but had been updated enough to bring readers new enthusiasm and enjoyment. I don't profess to be a reader of Chick Lit, but I could not help but notice the inclusion of  new terms that you might hear on reality television or entertainment programs that spotlight on the dress, activities and life of the rich and famous (or wannabees)...especially when discussions by or about the "Barbie table"--a group of the social elite who came to spend time at Uncommon Grounds after their tennis to gossip and enjoy their free time while Maggy and her staff served them. Of course, once in a while, one of the customers would even share with Maggy:

http://commons.wikimedia.org
/wiki/File:JimmyChooshoes.jpg

"Poor Elaine was an absolute wreck. She lost fifteen pounds and didn't have them to lose. When it first happened, I insisted she stay with me for a while and, after a week or so, I thought she'd turned the corner. Then she went home and the other Choo dropped.
"As in Jimmy Choo, the shoe designer. [Maggy thought] All I could do these days was visit the high-end shoes at Saks Fifth Avenue, like I was touring a museum. Once a salesperson even let me touch one. "The 'other Choo' being?"

Aside from that, however, Balzo continues to bring us fun whodunit mysteries that quickly pull you in and guessing, trying, if you're like me, to solve the puzzle before the author shares it...especially when Maggy Thorsen takes personal interest and decides that she needs to solve the case, even though her "boy-toy" and sheriff, Jack Pavlik  is "officially" on the case!

Maggy and Sarah Kingston are partners in Uncommon Grounds which is located next to a commuter rail line to Milwaukee. The shop had been recently relocated into a building in the older part of Brookhills, Wisconsin, that had been inherited by Sarah. In fact, Sarah had become even more involved with the new shop--to the detriment to her realty office. So much so that her staff had dwindled down to one new agent, who was not yet really able to act on her own and had filed a legal suit against Sarah for the lack of leadership and training she had expected to receive.


But Brigid Ferndale was found murdered not too long after that... Found because a certain strange smell had invaded the coffee shop above!


Her death followed two other agents and the other women had all been involved in showing a listing when they were found. But Brigid had been found in a secret underground room that was located under Uncommon Grounds! Interestingly though, neither Sarah nor Maggy had known the room was there...  But, there was no question that Sarah would be suspected so Maggy really had no choice but to try to help her friend and business partner, right?

The underground room actually had been the location where members of the mob would privately wait for the train. It was historically significant as part of a group of buildings that had been involved in a deadly shootout during which many of the mob, the FBI and a local restaurant owner had been killed. Part of the story was that a million dollars had been onsite and had never been discovered.

So, while a real estate agent mystery is being investigated, there is also a television celebrity who has come to town to shoot live from the area, making the claim that he knows where the money is hidden and will reveal all during his televised documentary which would include a tour of the restaurant where the incident had occurred as well as revealing a secret tunnel to a next-door slaughterhouse where it was rumored that more than cattle met their death and where the money was supposed to have been stashed.

Being asked to cater the activities surrounding this program placed Maggy right where she wanted to be--and where she was most likely to be in danger!

In case you didn't know it, in a cozy mystery, the "civilian" nearly always solves the case...LOL And that's exactly why readers enjoy them. Of course, cozies also many times come in a series and we begin to look forward to reading more about the wonderful characters that we all come to love! Try Sandra Balzo's Maggy Thorsen mystery series if you haven't already! Be prepared and relax with a...Triple Shot of your favorite beverage! Highly recommended!

Book Received Via
Bostick Communications


GABixlerReviews

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-sandra-balzos-new-series-winner.html
http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-cozy-mystery-bring-your-own-cup.html