Death of a Dead Man

Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery, Book 1

De: Karin Kaufman

Narrado por: Becky Doughty

The first book in the Juniper Grove Mystery series!

In the small town of Juniper Grove, newcomer Rachel Stowe has finally found the good friends and quiet life she always craved. So when a stranger arrives in town and stirs painful memories of a baffling episode in the town’s past, Rachel vows to put an end to his mischief.

But events take a nasty turn when Rachel discovers a body in her own backyard and suspicion for the murder falls on her widowed neighbor. Despite being warned off the case by the town’s handsome but aloof police chief, Rachel makes it her mission to clear her neighbor’s name and find the real killer. Can she crack the case before another body turns up?

This light, cozy mystery offers a clean read with a female amateur sleuth in a small-town setting. No foul language, sex, gore, or graphic scenes of any kind.

©2017 Karin Kaufman (P)2017 Karin Kaufman

One of the best cozies ever!

Rachel Stowe, mystery writer, gets involved in solving a real-life murder mystery in her new town of Juniper Grove, Colorado in Death of a Dead Man by Karin Kaufman. One morning, Julia Foster, Rachel's neighbor and one of two real friends in her new hometown, shows Rachel the local newspaper and tells her about an event from seven years earlier. Julia has just had her husband, George, declared dead after seven long years of waiting to be allowed to do so. George Foster and his pal, bank VP Mitch Dillard, robbed the local bank of $300,000 seven years and five days earlier, with Dillard's getting killed in the getaway attempt. Everyone assumed that George perished too, but since his body never surfaced, Julia had to wait all this time to be able to get her husband declared dead. Rachel needs to know about this because the local newspaper, known for pushing the limit on scandal-mongering, has published Rachel's name, occupation, and age in telling its readers that George was rumored to have buried the missing money in the backyard of the home Rachel recently moved into.

To add grief to the already incendiary newspaper article, Julia, their mutual friend Holly, and the local officials have received anonymous letters accusing Julia of having colluded with her husband in the bank heist and claiming that George is still alive. Julia and Holly hope that being a mystery writer, Rachel will help them locate the person who wrote this anonymous letter. Though pointing out that she has no actual experience with investigation, Rachel agrees, and the three women meet at Rachel's house that night. But when they go to Rachel's backyard, they spot a big hole not previously there. And in the hole lies the body of George Foster. Suddenly the hunt for an anonymous letter writer has turned into a hunt for a killer that takes the friends into the political world of Juniper Grove.

This book kept me riveted from the opening lines and gripped me until the closing lines. I was drawn into all the political intrigue as well as the details of the characters' personal lives. The plot kept me guessing and moved very swiftly. I personally generally care less about trying to guess who committed the crime being investigated than in analyzing the path that the detective took to find the solution. This book surely didn't disappoint! The path took many twists and turns as it followed Rachel's efforts to help Julia learn the truth about what happened to her husband these last seven years, what drew him back to Juniper Grove, and who killed him.

I also found myself becoming invested in the individual characters, for example, hoping that someone would get back at the cruel newspaper editor, Jillian Newsom after seeing her harsh behavior towards Julia and Rachel. I also joined Rachel in wavering over the question of which individuals she can trust and which are enemies. When someone vandalizes Holly's bakery, I felt almost as devastated as Holly at the damage and loss of good food on the eve of the famous Juniper Grove Farmer's Market.

The book concludes its official description with the following sentences as the final paragraph: "This light, cozy mystery offers a clean read with a female amateur sleuth in a small-town setting. No foul language, sex, gore, or graphic scenes of any kind." I appreciated that the author has created a very well- written novel while keeping within her Christian worldview. However, the book does not preach to readers in any sense of the word and does not stick to the formulaic method of a lot of Christian fiction I read while growing up.

Becky Doughty does a good job of narrating the audio edition of this book. She does a good job of enticing the reader to want to keep listening, using creative accents for different characters as we get drawn further as further into the plot.

I am so glad I happened to stumble across Death of a Dead Man. This is one of the best books I have read in a while. It grabbed me and kept me listening until the book was over. I highly recommend this to everyone and give it five stars!

Wonderful book

The story was sooo clever but written so well that I could actually try and solve it with her but relax and have fun at the same time. On my way to go order second book.

Clean cozy mystery

Fun little cozy mystery that's reminds me of the TV series Murder She Wrote. Well narrated by Becky Doughty.

Entertaining

This is an entertaining book with well developed characters and an interesting plot. I look forward to the next book in this series.

She writes mysteries and she just found a body...

I've been on a cozy mystery audiobook kick lately so Death Of A Dead Man, the first book in Karin Kaufman's Juniper Grove series, was a good pick for me. I was also somewhat familiar with the author as I'd previously listened to and enjoyed four of her Anna Denning Mysteries.

While her Juniper Grove series is different from her Anna Denning series I really did like the true cozy mystery feel of Death Of A Dead Man. Karin Kaufman lead me on a merry chase of clues and red herrings as I tried to solve the mystery alongside Rachel and her friends. I did have parts of it figured out but it was nice that there were still enough surprises to keep me happy and not bored. So, yes, I definitely enjoyed the audiobook and I will be listening to more of the series.

The narrator of this particular audiobook has fast become a favorite of mine. No matter the genre she does a great job and this time around was no exception. As always, the sound quality was excellent and I had no complaints whatsoever with the production as a whole. All in all, it's a great listen for any fan of cozy mysteries.