Peace, Love, and Murder / Nancy Holzner

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Mystery

Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

An avid reader at a young age, Nancy Holzner went on to study English in college, eventually earning a PhD. She has worked in many professions, including freelance editor, corporate trainer, and teacher. Her “Deadtown” urban fantasy series is traditionally published by Ace. For more, visit Hotzner’s website.


Description:

Cabbie Bo Forrester’s day isn’t going well after he is pulled over for speeding. When one of his passengers tries to escape and a corpse shows up in the trunk, it only gets worse.

Five Star, a small press publisher, previously published this book.

Appraisal:

I love a good mystery. Peace, Love, and Murder qualifies. After the end of his military career, protagonist Bo Forrester has returned to his hometown in search of his estranged, peacenik parents. Finding they’ve moved on with no forwarding address, Bo decides to stay. Suspected of murder when a corpse is found in the trunk of the cab he is driving, Bo sets out to find the real killer.

The basic premise of this murder mystery is tried and true. A protagonist stumbles into a situation and then tries to figure it out on their own rather than leaving it to the professionals. There are thousands of murder mysteries build on this foundation. The plot follows the typical path, with Bo finding more and more potential suspects, investigating, and eventually putting all the clues together, with plenty of adventure and suspense along the way.

What makes Peace, Love, and Murder unique are the characters and the humor. The idiosyncratic characters populating the book are seldom what they appear, often having two sides that seem in conflict. This starts with Bo, who has done his time in the military, yet still believes in the make-love-not-war ethos he learned growing up on a sixties-style commune. There is the odd-couple pairing of Carl and Ronnie, who take Bo’s cab from their trailer park to work and back each day, arguing (and making the reader laugh) all the way. The overly ambitious deputy for the sheriff’s department, Trudy Hauser, is continually making amusing missteps. She tries to appear hardcore, but has a soft side, which helps her win Bo’s confidence. Holtzner has put it all together to give us a fun and entertaining read.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars