Murder at Elk Ridge: An Inspector Hilary Casgrain Murder Mystery

The Hangman's third victim twists in the wind outside Inspector Hilary Casgrain’s new home. It's not the ‘Welcome To Elk Ridge’ message she was expecting.

Hilary Casgrain just moved halfway across the country for a fresh start. She’s desperate to trade the shootings, corruption, and gangs of the city for small-town law enforcement. And she’s convinced that a steady diet of nothing more serious than drunken tourists and fender benders is just what she needs to get her life back on track.

But a serial killer spoils Hilary’s dreams of a low-key career change.

Her arrival in Elk Ridge goes further downhill when she meets the sergeant at her new posting. It’s her nemesis, George ‘Goat’ Rundle. Goat’s odd sense of humor grates on Hilary’s last nerve, but he’s deadly serious about protecting his team. Hilary fears she’s doomed to be the ultimate outsider. Even worse, the sight of Goat Rundle is a grim reminder of the worst moment of her life. And she still holds him responsible.

Hilary is also troubled by her newest officer. Riley Mills is young, smart, and eager. She's also a dead ringer for The Hangman's victims.

As if The Hangman isn't enough of a threat to the small community, vandals are escalating their racist attacks from night-time property damage to the assault of a young girl.

The animosity between Hilary and Goat simmers under the surface. It's an advantage The Hangman could exploit. Can Hilary steer the investigation back on track before Riley has to pay the price?

Hilary wanted calm and quiet but slowly feels her old anger rekindling. The Elk Ridge PD might never be the same.

Good story line

AI narration was not very well done in many places. Human-read would have flowed better.

good story

I listened to my last virtual voice narrated book over a year ago, and it was terrible. This narration was adequate, as if a reader was well spoken, adhered to punctuation rules, and even a little bit of emotion to the words, but no acting skill. The story could be told without being pulled out of the action by poor narration. While not as enjoyable as a well acted book, it was better than some real persons, and much better than the last Virtual Voice book I tried to listen to.

REALLY Great. Fun, twisty police procedural!!!

I've just discovered an author whose police procedural series are set in Canada. How did I miss these books???? I finished her "DC Holly Towns" series a month ago--and suddenly a whole new series featuring Inspector Hilary Casgrain appeared on Audible. As those of you who have followed my reviews over the years know, I love police procedurals from the UK as well as hard science sci-fi. Because the Canadian police operate on a team basis like the British, I thought I would try these books. What a delight. The main character is a ton of fun and has a good supporting cast -- and the mysteries are clear but still complex enough to be both exciting and enough to keep one guessing. [As you may also know if you follow my reviews, I always try to get Amazon to allow every reader of a large number of books in a year to give one title in that year; a "sixth star". ] They have not relented, but I do so in any case. It is too early for this year's 6th star, but these are certainly in the running! Highly recommend.

good storyline.

there were no fullest in the story. the alphabet murder books always stagnated. this one kept interest flowing. I do not like the AI reader. misses too many nuances and pronunciations.

Little character development. More of that would make for a more engaging story and characters.W

What I liked least is virtual voice. While it may be improving, it still has a lot of improving to be as enjoyable as a live reader. Inflection, emphasis,and even pronunciation of some words based on context can be distracting. This is not exclusive to this story, but pervasive to all virtual voice stories I have listened to; or have tried to listen to.