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A review by rellimreads
Secrets of the Ravine by Brenda Whiteside
4.0
This is my 300th book of the year!
I enjoyed Brenda Whiteside’s Love & Murder series and was excited to see her new series, The MacKenzie Chronicles. Set in the small town of Joshua, Arizona this is too sexy to be considered a cozy mystery but has a lot of the same elements I enjoy in those. A tourist who holds a strong resemblance to a young man that disappeared nearly 30 years earlier amidst a murder investigation has the town stirred up.
For Magpie MacKenzie – it’s a whirl of emotions and memories. Zac Peachtree immediately notices the town noticing him, but the connection goes deeper than anyone realizes. While Magpie is 15 years older than Zac, attraction and more zings between them. They work to discover not only who the murderer is but whether they have a connection beyond the mystery. Amateur sleuthing, flashbacks to Joshua’s “hippy days”, and a bit a bit of a mystic element combine to give this a truly unique feel.
Whiteside does a solid job of worldbuilding in a book where the town of Joshua is an integral character as much as its citizens. While we definitely get to know Magpie & her father, Frank – there’s also a glimpse of Magpie’s siblings Harlan and Elidor. Not sure who gets the next book, but I’m looking forward to it.
I enjoyed Brenda Whiteside’s Love & Murder series and was excited to see her new series, The MacKenzie Chronicles. Set in the small town of Joshua, Arizona this is too sexy to be considered a cozy mystery but has a lot of the same elements I enjoy in those. A tourist who holds a strong resemblance to a young man that disappeared nearly 30 years earlier amidst a murder investigation has the town stirred up.
For Magpie MacKenzie – it’s a whirl of emotions and memories. Zac Peachtree immediately notices the town noticing him, but the connection goes deeper than anyone realizes. While Magpie is 15 years older than Zac, attraction and more zings between them. They work to discover not only who the murderer is but whether they have a connection beyond the mystery. Amateur sleuthing, flashbacks to Joshua’s “hippy days”, and a bit a bit of a mystic element combine to give this a truly unique feel.
Whiteside does a solid job of worldbuilding in a book where the town of Joshua is an integral character as much as its citizens. While we definitely get to know Magpie & her father, Frank – there’s also a glimpse of Magpie’s siblings Harlan and Elidor. Not sure who gets the next book, but I’m looking forward to it.