Monday, March 10, 2014

Board Stiff by Annelise Ryan

Matty Winston is back again.  She's got her old job back and she's ignoring Hurley.  He has his "wife" back (she never signed the divorce papers but didn't mention it until now) and all of a sudden he's a father.  It seems she had his baby and never told him about that either.  Talk about awkward, especially since they were in bed together when she arrived.  Matty doesn't need that kind of trouble.  Now murder, she can handle.

Kensington Books sent me an uncorrected proof to read for review (thank you).  It's being published this month, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

When Matty runs into a friend who says she needs her help, she never imagines the kind of help she needs has to do with murder.  It seems that Irene's boyfriend, who is in a nursing home and suffers from memory loss, was last to see the dead man alive.  At least, that's how it appears since a powder he uses is on the man.  Bjorn can't remember anything about it. Irene says the dead man was killing off patients so he had more room to take in the better paying patients.  Mattie thinks that's stretching things, but when she checks it out, there have been a lot of deaths.

Mattie starts detecting and the more she learns, the less she knows.  Hurley is on the case, too, and he keeps cornering her in odd places and kissing her and making her wish they were back together again.  She tells him no, but she isn't very effective in her refusal when she melts in his arms.  Then his long lost wife goes missing again, and she leaves her daughter with him.  He doesn't want to burdened with the girl.  She's nice enough, but he doesn't know how to be a father. As they keep searching for the killer, Mattie finds herself in mortal danger.

I find these stories entertaining and the author writes a good mystery.  I just wish things would settle down for Mattie.  She loves Hurley and would like to be with him, but he needs to get his life back together first.  This story has an ironic ending.  I'm looking forward to the next book in this series to see how that relationship works out and what new body Mattie will find.  Ms. Ryan's stories are not boring.

Happy reading!

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