The Serpents Trail: A Maxie and Stretch Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Delightful new heroine
Review: Maxie McNabb is an independedent 63-year-old woman who enjoys living in Alaska, traveling in her RV and owning a mini-dachshund named Stretch. When her old college chum, Sarah, becomes terminally ill, Maxie goes for a last visit to Sarah's Colorado home. Sarah has said that she needed to confide something to Maxie, but she is very seriously ill by the time Maxie arrives. One of the women's old college friends, Ed, appears on the scene and he and Maxie spend some time exploring the area together. Before long there are complications about Sarah's sizeable estate and there are questions about who her heirs really are. Maxie does some investigating and soon is receiving threatening letters from an unknown source. This is the first book in a new series by Sue Henry who has written another series about Alaska. Maxie is a delightful character and there seems to be a lot of potential for her to find further adventures in future books.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful new heroine
Review: Maxie McNabb is an independedent 63-year-old woman who enjoys living in Alaska, traveling in her RV and owning a mini-dachshund named Stretch. When her old college chum, Sarah, becomes terminally ill, Maxie goes for a last visit to Sarah's Colorado home. Sarah has said that she needed to confide something to Maxie, but she is very seriously ill by the time Maxie arrives. One of the women's old college friends, Ed, appears on the scene and he and Maxie spend some time exploring the area together. Before long there are complications about Sarah's sizeable estate and there are questions about who her heirs really are. Maxie does some investigating and soon is receiving threatening letters from an unknown source. This is the first book in a new series by Sue Henry who has written another series about Alaska. Maxie is a delightful character and there seems to be a lot of potential for her to find further adventures in future books.

Rating:
Summary: A fine mystery
Review: Sixty-three years old Maxie McNabb enjoys hitting the road with her RV accompanied by her mini-dachshund, perhaps the only Alaskan resident not to have a husky. When Maxie learns that her friend Sarah Numamaker is dying, she decides to visit her pal in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Sarah is elated that Maxie is coming to see her, but not just because she enjoys her company, which she does. Sarah needs Maxie to help her with a problem, but will not explain what it is until her visitor arrives. Maxie finds Sarah's house has been turned upside down and her buddy is in the hospital. Sarah dies, but not from her illness but because someone killed her. As the executor, Maxie must settle Sarah's estate, which she has left to her adopted son and any natural children of her own, of which Maxie did not know any existed. Ed Norris claims that Sarah's adopted son, Alan, is actually his; Alan denies any blood ties while openly acts hostile towards Maxie and Ed. As Maxie tries to learn who killed her friend, she also researches relationships to see whether Ed or Alan is telling the truth even while wondering what Sarah needed for her to do.

Though the story line moves at the pace of driving an RV from Alaska to Colorado, fans will appreciate this entertaining cozy due to the delightful sexagenarian charmer Maxie. She makes for a fine tale with her friendly open approach to people even when she is rebuked by her friend's son. Sue Henry, known for her scenic Alaska mysteries, shows she can entertain readers with a lower Forty-Eight tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A fine mystery
Review: Sixty-three years old Maxie McNabb enjoys hitting the road with her RV accompanied by her mini-dachshund, perhaps the only Alaskan resident not to have a husky. When Maxie learns that her friend Sarah Numamaker is dying, she decides to visit her pal in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Sarah is elated that Maxie is coming to see her, but not just because she enjoys her company, which she does. Sarah needs Maxie to help her with a problem, but will not explain what it is until her visitor arrives. Maxie finds Sarah's house has been turned upside down and her buddy is in the hospital. Sarah dies, but not from her illness but because someone killed her. As the executor, Maxie must settle Sarah's estate, which she has left to her adopted son and any natural children of her own, of which Maxie did not know any existed. Ed Norris claims that Sarah's adopted son, Alan, is actually his; Alan denies any blood ties while openly acts hostile towards Maxie and Ed. As Maxie tries to learn who killed her friend, she also researches relationships to see whether Ed or Alan is telling the truth even while wondering what Sarah needed for her to do.

Though the story line moves at the pace of driving an RV from Alaska to Colorado, fans will appreciate this entertaining cozy due to the delightful sexagenarian charmer Maxie. She makes for a fine tale with her friendly open approach to people even when she is rebuked by her friend's son. Sue Henry, known for her scenic Alaska mysteries, shows she can entertain readers with a lower Forty-Eight tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: RVing sleuth
Review: We first heard of writer Sue Henry when we stopped at Dawson Peaks Resort near Teslin in the Yukon on an RV trip from Anchorage to Seattle. The resort was the setting for the final scenes in Dead North, one of Henry's Alaska mysteries. That novel introduced the character Maxie McNabb, traveling in her RV up the Alaska Highway with her mini-dachshund, Stretch.

Readers wanted Maxie to have her own book; The Serpents Trail is the result. Maxie, who travels most of the time in her Minnie Winnie Winnebago motorhome, is a character RVers, as well as readers with a sense of adventure, can relate to. She is a 63 year old widow, smart but cautious. She loves the freedom of RV travel. She isn't a professional sleuth but has common sense, a deep sense of integrity, and encounters situations that need to be solved.

As the story opens, Maxie and Stretch are scooting south in her RV from Alaska to fulfill a promise to a longtime friend, terminally ill with a heart condition. Sarah has something important to tell her. Arriving in Colorado Junction, Colorado, Maxie finds Sarah in intensive care. All she can tell Maxie is, "He's not right...." Sarah dies before explaining.

It is then up to Maxie, executrix of Sarah's estate, to find the special instructions Sarah has hidden for Maxie in her Victorian house. Someone else has a key and is also searching.

As Maxie unravels the puzzle, she finds she doesn't know her dear friend as well as she thought. And someone does not want her finding the instructions, leaving threats and attempting to run her off the road in nearby Colorado National Monument. As Maxie follows the clues to Salt Lake City and back, we get caught up in this tale of intrigue and also get a glimpse into the life of a solo woman RVer.

Let's hope this is the first of many in a series. Traveling in an RV will be provide multiple settings for a series of books about Maxie. I wonder where Maxie and Stretch's next adventure will be!