Monday, October 28, 2019

Review: Deception Walk by Melissa Bowersock



Genre: Cozy Mystery/Drama/Native American

Description:

“The paranormal investigative duo of Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud are doing fine, but when an ex-girlfriend of Sam’s shows up, Lacey feels uneasy. Sam has never talked much about his past, so the sudden arrival of a beautiful blonde is disturbing. However, when that same blonde disappears without a trace, and Sam is the last person to see her, Lacey realizes her worries are just beginning. The LA County Sheriff’s office and the LAPD know more than they’re saying—and they both consider Sam a suspect.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: biography, contemporary, western, action, romance, fantasy, paranormal and spiritual. She has been both traditionally and independently published and is a regular contributor to the superblog Indies Unlimited. She has a tattoo on the inside of her left wrist that says IMAGINE. In her next life, she plans to be an astronaut. She lives in a small community in northern Arizona with her husband and an Airedale terrier. She also writes under the pen name Amber Flame.”

Learn more about Ms. Bowersock and her other books on her website or on Facebook.

Appraisal:

Sam Firecloud, Navajo medium, ends up in the hot seat after going out on an impromptu lunch with a former female friend he hadn’t seen or heard from in years. Sounds innocent enough, right? However, when this female friend goes missing and Sam is supposedly the last person to see her, things get complicated. Then the Sheriff’s Department finds her car abandoned in Angeles National Forest and Sam’s fingerprints are found in her Mercedes. The lead Sheriff Deputy Christianson does all he can to pin her disappearance and subsequent murder on Sam.

It’s not very often we see Lacey scared out of her wits. This story exposes her vulnerability when Sam is arrested for the woman’s murder. Of course he has no alibi, he works alone in his ceramic studio. Sam’s defense attorney, Rod Silversmith, keeps hitting road blocks from the court, which builds tension in the readers who are pulling for Sam. Lacey is conducting her own investigation and she has to be extremely careful not to be accused of witness tampering. She’s after the facts and has to do something to keep her mind occupied or it ventures to the worst case scenarios. The first twist in the plot is easily spotted. However, the rest of the story is an emotional rollercoaster all the way to the climax. 

Deception Walk is an excellent character study type of story. I love the way Ms. Bowersock’s characters are never stagnant, they grow, and even the kids are maturing realistically. The secondary characters are well developed and add interesting twists. None of the characters in this book are inherently evil. Although Deputy Christianson was real easy to hate. All in all Deception Walk is an intriguing read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK
  
FYI:

Deception Walk is book 22 in Ms. Bowersock’s, A LACEY FITZPATRICK and SAM FIRECLOUD MYSTERY SERIES. This series does not need to be read in order. However, you may miss some character development.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant proofing issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

2 comments:

Melissa Bowersock said...

Thank you!

?wazithinkin said...

Thanks for dropping in and commenting, Ms. Bowersock.