Death of a Dead Man

Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery, Book 1

By: Karin Kaufman

Narrated by: Becky Doughty

Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Great

This is funny, with delightful quirky neighbors. Rachel now writes mystery books, as though that makes her the perfect person to solve a mystery. Notes left on a door, even the police station, and articles in the paper, makes one wonder about this little town. Where everyone, remembers, what happened seven years ago.
A delight to listen to the audio with good narration. Given audio for my voluntary review

Juniper Grove

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery, the narrator did a great job! I have listened to the first 5 books in the series & hope more are recorded soon.

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.

A Mystery Writer Solves a Murder

I really enjoyed this surprise-a-minute cozy mystery. It sometimes seemed that everybody in town had a reason to want one, or both of the victims dead, nearly as much as they wanted to dispose of each other, but it was only in the last chapter that I finally figured out, along with our heroine, who, how and why.
This is one of those stories where most of the characters are likable and sympathetic. Even the villains are at least entertaining.
I thought it was well narrated. I believe I've heard this narrator before and she speaks clearly and uses an interesting vocal modulation to keep things from getting dry.
A fun read.

Clean Colorado Cozy

Rachel Stowe, who had recently moved from Boston to Juniper Grove, Colorado, had finally found her place in the world . . . quiet, relaxed and friendly . . . and nothing like the hustle and bustle of the big city . . . With a few close friends and her writing, she was just where she wanted to be . . . until a dead body turned up in her back yard . . . and her friend and neighbor came under suspicion. Even little towns, it seems, can dig up some dirt. Crooked politics, scandalous newspaper editors, and money hungry bankers going back for years . . . Rachel, Julia, and Holly began to investigate . . . Julia's husband, George had just now been declared dead . . . but the bank heist was seven years ago . . . now he truly WAS dead, in Rachel's back yard . . . all the dirty laundry from the last seven years soon comes out . . . and many twists and turns, as well. I loved the matter-of-fact, yet entertaining narration . . . it was perfect for the tale of three women who were perplexed, but not giving in to their circumstances . . . can't wait to listen to the next in the series!

Kept me guessing until the very end!

Great truly cozy mystery. Well written, well played, and well done! I truly enjoyed this cozy mystery!

terrible narration caused us to abandon ship

We just couldn't get past the poor narration in order to finish the book. The narrator did ok voicing the characters but the inflection and way she read the actual narration was ridiculous. We suffered through the first half on our way to our vacation spot but no one wanted to pick it back up on the way home. Ended up listening instead to a Sherlock Holmes story by the master mystery writer himself, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.