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yogicath's review
5.0
This is book four of The Smiley and McBlythe Mystery series and follows the pair of private investigators as they get their next case, shortly before the Christmas season. For Steve Smiley, Christmas is the reminder of the loss of his wife of some twenty five years and also the loss of his sight just a few years ago, so not a season that he likes to celebrate. They have a drop in visitor but it turns out to be an elderly lady with memory issues. To keep busy, Heather insists that Steve get some new shirts, since he always ends up with food stains when he eats, but he is a very reluctant shopper at the mall. Christmas music is already being played and there are Christmas decorations all over. Steve may not be able to see the decorations, but he can certainly hear the music!
As they are about to enter the all, they can see a teenage girl arguing with a man they presume is her father, when a shot rings out. The man falls down dead and Heather grabs the girl and Steve and gets them under cover behind a press van that had just pulled up. They call the police and Steve uses his enhanced hearing and ability to notice lots of details, to tell them where the shot was likely to have come from and what sort of calibre it might have been. The teenage girl they rescue is called Bella and is famous for a programme starring her going big game hunting, all around the world. The man is actually her adopted father and in control of her every movement, even down to what she wears and promotes. She is very concerned with the pair solving her adopted father’s death, but does want their help to find her real parents, which is a long shot.
Heather takes Bella under her care, a teen who has a false ID showing she is eighteen for her gun use online, but in reality she is just under the age of seventeen. Steve and Heather get her permission to search her family home, but the most important paperwork is what they cannot find. Bella’s passport, adoption paperwork, school records and even medical records! Why these are missing begin to raise questions about the legality of Bella’s adoption and seem to be tied into all the suspects for her adopted father’s killing. The fact that the press knew to be onsite at just the right time to catch the killing’s aftermath, is also a strange coincidence. The number of suspects keeps growing as the number of people with a grudge or problem with the dead man, keeps expanding, as he often sacked staff at his home and business contacts with little notice or reason. Even an animal rights activist that may have been Bella’s boyfriend.
His ex-wife’s elephant gun was used to kill him, but she has a rock solid alibi out of town. The people who Bella calls Aunt and Uncle, one was her nanny, teacher and basically her only real parent and the other taught her much she needed to use weapons and ferried her around on private planes to all her hunts. Even Bella is under suspicion, do to her online rants on social media about her adopted dad’s inappropriate choice of clothing and swimwear advertising. She has been purely raised to expand his big-game hunting business and nothing more by the looks of it. Bella is a very intelligent teen, far older than her years, due to her upbringing. Heather and Steve will have to hunt far and wide to find the real truth behind Bella’s parentage and hope that there will be a happy ending in time for Christmas.
The role of bureaucracy spins slowly and it is only the funds of McBlythe and Smiley that allow the truth behind the adoption of Bella, to finally be revealed. A simple statement about Bella’s first appearance in the family, is all it takes for Steve to connect the dots and work out where she is really from. I love how his mind works so brilliantly and his loss of vision has made his other senses more pronounced and having Heather as a partner, but also a lawyer and extremely wealthy woman in her own right, doesn’t hurt when they need to take unusual steps to follow clues. A great pair of characters who work well together to solve murders and mysteries, that no one else can! I look forward to reading many more books in this series and can’t wait for the next one. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
As they are about to enter the all, they can see a teenage girl arguing with a man they presume is her father, when a shot rings out. The man falls down dead and Heather grabs the girl and Steve and gets them under cover behind a press van that had just pulled up. They call the police and Steve uses his enhanced hearing and ability to notice lots of details, to tell them where the shot was likely to have come from and what sort of calibre it might have been. The teenage girl they rescue is called Bella and is famous for a programme starring her going big game hunting, all around the world. The man is actually her adopted father and in control of her every movement, even down to what she wears and promotes. She is very concerned with the pair solving her adopted father’s death, but does want their help to find her real parents, which is a long shot.
Heather takes Bella under her care, a teen who has a false ID showing she is eighteen for her gun use online, but in reality she is just under the age of seventeen. Steve and Heather get her permission to search her family home, but the most important paperwork is what they cannot find. Bella’s passport, adoption paperwork, school records and even medical records! Why these are missing begin to raise questions about the legality of Bella’s adoption and seem to be tied into all the suspects for her adopted father’s killing. The fact that the press knew to be onsite at just the right time to catch the killing’s aftermath, is also a strange coincidence. The number of suspects keeps growing as the number of people with a grudge or problem with the dead man, keeps expanding, as he often sacked staff at his home and business contacts with little notice or reason. Even an animal rights activist that may have been Bella’s boyfriend.
His ex-wife’s elephant gun was used to kill him, but she has a rock solid alibi out of town. The people who Bella calls Aunt and Uncle, one was her nanny, teacher and basically her only real parent and the other taught her much she needed to use weapons and ferried her around on private planes to all her hunts. Even Bella is under suspicion, do to her online rants on social media about her adopted dad’s inappropriate choice of clothing and swimwear advertising. She has been purely raised to expand his big-game hunting business and nothing more by the looks of it. Bella is a very intelligent teen, far older than her years, due to her upbringing. Heather and Steve will have to hunt far and wide to find the real truth behind Bella’s parentage and hope that there will be a happy ending in time for Christmas.
The role of bureaucracy spins slowly and it is only the funds of McBlythe and Smiley that allow the truth behind the adoption of Bella, to finally be revealed. A simple statement about Bella’s first appearance in the family, is all it takes for Steve to connect the dots and work out where she is really from. I love how his mind works so brilliantly and his loss of vision has made his other senses more pronounced and having Heather as a partner, but also a lawyer and extremely wealthy woman in her own right, doesn’t hurt when they need to take unusual steps to follow clues. A great pair of characters who work well together to solve murders and mysteries, that no one else can! I look forward to reading many more books in this series and can’t wait for the next one. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
crystal_bookworm's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ericbuscemi's review
4.0
This is the first of the series, although there are prequels worth reading (including [b:Exercise Is Murder|52576723|Exercise Is Murder (Smiley and McBlythe)|Bruce Hammack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565057931l/52576723._SX50_SY75_.jpg|68144427], which recounts their first case together). It deals with the murder of a big-game hunter in front of a shopping mall at Christmas time, and how Steve and Heather get pulled into the case to help the victim's adopted daughter, Bella.
vesper1931's review
mysterious
4.0
While at a mall, a man is killed in front of Smiley and McBlythe, the dead man's daughter employs them to find her birth parents, but will they also discover the name of the killer.
An entertaining modern mystery
An entertaining modern mystery
katiya's review
4.0
For Steve Smiley, Christmastime is not a festive season. To distract Steve from his malaise, fellow P.I. Heather McBlythe takes him holiday shopping at the local mall where they witness a reality TV star cut down in a hail of bullets - a tragic event to be sure, but made worse by the fact his adopted daughter witnessed it. Who hated the man enough to want him dead and why does his daughter seem more interested in finding her birth parents?
Smiley and Blythe work so well together! The story is well paced and the mystery is thoroughly enjoyable. While there aren't as many of the usual yuletide trappings, Jingle Bells, Rifle Shells still manages to give a good nod to this time of year.
Smiley and Blythe work so well together! The story is well paced and the mystery is thoroughly enjoyable. While there aren't as many of the usual yuletide trappings, Jingle Bells, Rifle Shells still manages to give a good nod to this time of year.
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