Diamondback

Rating:
Summary: highly recommended
Review: Combine humor, family secrets and murder, and the resulting DIAMONDBACK by Elizabeth Dearl keeps this fast-paced mystery both entertaining and surprising to the end!

Mystery author Taylor Madison manages to wreck her prized Volkswagen when a rattler sudden appears on the highway and she swerves to avoid it. Her five hundred-mile journey ends in Perdue City, Texas, population 2,948, where she's soon aghast to learn that she's arrived just in time for a rattlesnake festival. Taylor's purpose for coming to Perdue City is to confront her estranged aunt, a woman whose existance Taylor only learned about a week following her mother's death. Taylor had unexpectedly come across a card tucked away in her mother's personal effects, suggesting that her mother had not been open or honest about her past.

When she hikes into town, Taylor's relieved to finally find an open hardware store to get warm. The owner apologizes that there's no taxi in town, but does offer the services of the local sheriff as chauffeur. The sheriff, Miles Crawford, takes a personal interest in her from the first moment he sees Taylor. First he drives her to her aunt's house, where she's quickly ejected from the home. Then he appoints her deputy sheriff to earn money for her car repair, and helps to secure a room over the hardware store while she stays in Perdue City.

The sheriff's kindness ends rather quickly, however, when his housekeeper finds him dead in his recliner. Since no one else was immediately available, Taylor is called to the scene, where she observes several inconsistencies that point, not to an accidental rattlesnake bite, but murder.

Who would have thought rattlesnakes could be funny and entertaining? But in Dearl's hands, the rattlesnakes and the ferret steal the show. With lots of rattlesnake lore, plenty of comic relief, and a generous dose of attitude, I couldn't put DIAMONDBACK down. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome mystery!
Review: I just finished reading Diamondback. What an awesome mystery! I loved it! Couldn't put it down. The characters, the dialogue and the setting are so real I felt I was in Perdue. Excellent and well-constructed plot! I had no idea whodunit until the end. The suspense kept me turning the pages faster and faster. The main character, Taylor Madison is one of the best and strongest female characters I have read in a long time. Very unique and original. And Cal, her new love interest, is such a cutie! I'm glad this is a series because I can't wait to read more about these characters. Oh, and it was so funny in places I was laughing out loud. What a wry sense of humor this author has! I also loved the heroine's pet ferret, all the interesting secondary characters, the creepy snakes...just everything. This author has incredible talent and skill. Count me in as a major fan!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Start to a New Series!
Review: When Taylor Madison's Volkswagen broke down just outside of Perdue, Texas' limits, she wondered if this whole trip was worth it. After all, her editor was waiting for her new book and Taylor was flat broke after paying for her mother's funeral expenses. How on earth was she going to afford to pay for car repairs? Still, at least her trusty Beetle made it to the little town where her mother grew up and where her Aunt Tessa lived. Taylor had never met her Aunt Tessa, in fact, she never even knew that she existed until she found a mysterious letter in her mother's jewelry box. Taylor was determined to meet her and to find out what drove them apart for all those long years. However, Tessa's reception wasn't exactly what she had hoped for. Tessa threw her out of her home without even giving her a chance to explain why she was there. Luckily, Sheriff Miles Crawford offered to make her a temporary deputy for the duration of the Rattlesnake Festival so she could earn enough money to pay Roger for her car repairs. Unluckily, Sheriff Crawford was dead within a few days of her arrival.

It appeared that the Sheriff was bitten by a huge rattlesnake while reading in his living room and died from poison. But Taylor Madison, aka "Maddy Taylor" mystery writer, knew a setup when she saw one. She was determined to find out what really killed this man who was kind to her and to pin down her Aunt Tessa regarding her mother Sarah. If only she could get her fellow deputies, Lester & Cal, to take her seriously, she would have some help with the investigation. But it would take some near death misses and other strange occurrences before anyone else in the sleepy town of Perdue would even consider that the Sheriff's death was murder...

This was a fabulous first book in a great new series. Taylor Madison is a wonderful heroine and has a dry sense of humor that I found very entertaining. All of secondary characters are great, too. There is Lester, the town's golden boy who is being groomed to become the next Sheriff; Cal, the other candidate for Sheriff who seems to be interested in Taylor in a romantic way; Hazel, Taylor's pet ferret who definitely has a personality of her own; Billy, the skittish sheriff dispatcher who is never quite sure what to keep a secret; Billy's sister, Rita, the waitress as Lucy's Cafe who doesn't know the meaning of the word secret and spreads rumors all over town, as well as a host of other characters to keep the story lively. The author does a great job at portraying life in a small town and the complex relationships between everyone. The mystery was well thought out and came to a natural conclusion. The story had lovely pacing and great descriptions. If you have enjoyed Charlaine Harris' Teagarden or Shakespeare series, you should love this series, too! Highly recommended for mystery lovers!