Monday, August 18, 2014

Disappearance at Hangman's Bluff: A Felony Bay Mystery by J. E. Thompson


Abby's father is home again.  He's recovered from his coma and is now taking on new cases.  This worries Abby because she thinks he's not quite well yet, but fathers will be fathers.

Walden Pond Press and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book (thank you).  It will be published September 2nd, so grab a copy then.

Abby and Bee are out for a pony ride to the Judge's house to check on his dog and her puppies, when they see some men kidnap the dog!  They try to stop them, then must run from them to escape getting hurt themselves.  If that wasn't bad enough, the family her father had sued in the first book in this series is back in town again and still trying to develop the property out at Hangman's Bluff.  They're no friends of Abby's.

While they sneak around trying to see what's happening and where the dog might be, Abby and Bee find a dead man in an abandoned truck!  It's the same one that kidnapped the dog.  That immediately gets them both grounded.  As you guess, they sneak away again and don't realize just how much danger they are in.  When a big storm comes in, they have to fight the weather as well as the bad guys.

This is busy adventure tale with two good friends, one black and one white, and a lot of local history all wound up around these girls.  The girls remain strong and steadfast and stand up for what they believe in.  We should all do that.  The mix of action and history made this a good read for young readers as well as adults.  It should interest both boys and girls who want to know more about slave history without it feeling like a lesson.

Happy reading.

No comments:

Nonna Marie and the Case of the Lost Treasure by Lorenzo Carcaterra

As Nonna Maria's longtime friend and sometimes colleague, Captain Murino of the Ischian caribineri never wanted to see harm brought to t...