Sarah Winston isn’t having a good year. Newly divorced, no career to fall back on, harassment
by the local police department, and daily phone calls of gunfire, are just the
recent hurdles she has to overcome. To
keep her mind occupied, Sarah volunteers at a thrift store on the local
military base. As part of her routine,
she picks up bags of clothing and other incidentals from garage sales and sorts
them at her home before taking them to the shop. One night she gets a big surprise when she
opens a bag and finds bloody clothing belonging to her ex-husband and his fiancé. Panicked, Sarah does the only thing she can
think of – call her ex-husband who also happens to be the Chief of Police.
This is just the start of the mystery as the body of a young
woman is found and Sarah tries to clear her ex-husband’s name. Enlisting the help of some of her friends on
and off base, Sarah uncovers more trash on her neighbors by, well, rooting through
their cast-offs.
Overall, this was a fast read and I enjoyed it. From the beginning I was hooked because it
read a bit more deeply than most cozy mysteries. I did lose a bit of respect for the main
character though when she over-reacted with the shirts and had not only the
police at her door, but the fire department, and EMT’s. For that, she deserved a citation but maybe
it’s just me.
What sets it apart from other cozy mysteries - Sarah doesn’t
have a job and is searching for one. At
least all the others I’ve read, the main character owns a small business and
juggles their sleuthing with their day-to-day grind. Another difference, there isn’t a love
interest – unless, of course, you take into account her pining for her ex-husband
who cheated on her and is having another woman’s baby. Another point of contention I didn’t like was
her portrayal of the police as being childish and their relentless harassment.
All in all, I did enjoy the way it all turned out and the
many points of annoyance for me were explained in the ending. I especially loved how every conclusion she
came up with was not connected and pointed out that she had no business trying
to solve the mystery (but then it wouldn’t be a fun first part of a series now
would it)?
This was the first book I’ve read by Sherry Harris and it
will definitely not be the last.
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