Beehives: A Suspense Novel by Mary Coley

Jamie is on vacation with Sam and they are going to relax, enjoy each others company, and discuss when and where to get married.  At least that was the plan...

Ms. Coley sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  I've read all three in this series and have enjoyed them all.  She writes a good solid plot with facts interspersed about the area she sets her mysteries in.  This book is available in both print and ebook form on Amazon.

When Jamie and Sam go on a walk in the woods, they're startled when a woman screams.  When they run to see what's wrong, there's a dead woman on the ground with a tree branch on her.  Since they just had a scare from a falling branch themselves, they think that's what harmed her.  No, she has a head injury that is not consistent with the fall and the branch isn't that big.  Who killed the old woman and why?

Jamie finds that there are secrets here in the woods.  She also learns that her mother was here in the past and someone died then, too.  She begins digging into the past at the library and in park service records.

When they smell smoke in the cabin, she and Sam run outside.  Sam goes back in and never comes out.  She's fearing the worst but the back door to the cabin was open.  He went through the cabin and disappeared.  She's upset because he's not like that and she can't locate him.  Neither can the search teams.  She's afraid he might be hurt or dead and she can't deal with that.  She just found love again...

Happenings in the past are haunting the future and it takes all of Jamie's smarts to locate Sam.  The problem is that the person who came to her aid is the killer...

I enjoyed the history she mixed into the story and the plot was good.  There's lots of suspense that will keep you reading.  Give it a try.  If you want to follow Jamie from the beginning start the first book.  You'll enjoy watching her progress as her life goes on.

Ant Dens by Mary Coley

Rebecca Aldrich has run away from home before, but she's never gone long.  This time she was getting ready to go to college and she disappears from campus.  The cops think she's run off with her boyfriend.  Jamie gets involved because it's her stepdaughter and she can help her Spanish speaking mother talk to the police.  She's also worried about Rebecca and will get even more worried as time goes on.

The author kindly sent me a copy of this book for review (thank you).  It's been published so you can grab a copy now.

Having your dead husband's ex-wife in the same household is not comfortable but Maria can't stay in a motel because her husband would assume she came to meet a man.  Her home life sounds like it's pretty stressful.

Jamie finds out that women have gone missing from around the local area several times.  Her best friend, who is a journalist, thinks it is human trafficking: that they are selling the young girls into slave trade or prostitution.  What makes matters worse is that when she cleans out her husband's office at the university, she finds a file filled with missing persons reports going back twenty years.  They are all female.  Did Ben have something to do with this?  She knows he has some secret he hid from her because she found a note in his journal that said he couldn't tell because it would destroy their lives.  What was that secret?

Jamie is an interesting character.  She wants the truth and will pay the price to learn it.  She has her ex-husband hanging around, Maria living with her, the nosy neighbor hanging around and she's worrying about how much she misses Ben and still loves him but she loves Sam, too.  Maybe she's entering a relationship too soon?

As in the previous book, it all goes back to the past.  Something happened at the college while her husband was going to school there.  There's another family involved.  And these family secrets are deadly...

Ms. Coley researches the area she's writing about and teaches about the land as well as writes a good mystery.  I like her style.

Cobwebs by Mary Coley

When she gets a call from her aunt saying she needs to come now, she immediately leaves to visit her.  When she's ill and a bit confused, Jamie wishes she'd come sooner.  Hearing something in the house, Jamie goes to investigate.  While she's been gone, someone has attempted to kill great aunt Elizabeth by suffocating her with a pillow!

The author graciously sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published, so check with your bookstore for a copy.  This book was a 2015 Winner of the Creative Women of Oklahoma Award for Young Adult Books from Delta Kappa Gamma International Society for Key Educators.

When the police chief tells her she's a suspect, Jamie is doubly hurt.  Not only did she not harm her aunt, she's been accused of helping her husband die.  His cancer was incurable and he did ask her to aid him in an early death but she always said no.  She also felt guilty because of that and how much he suffered.  This is just another painful situation for her.

Jamie and her family used to come and stay with aunt Elizabeth in the summer months.  She knows something happened there one summer that scared her badly but she doesn't know what it was.  Now it seems like it's coming back to haunt her again.

While her aunt is in the hospital in a coma, she's waiting for her to get well and trying to find out more about her relative's lives.  There's large gap in her knowledge and the more she finds out, the less she knows.  Not all of what she is learning is true either.

This is tale of a family tree that goes back generations and has had a troubled life all along.  There are relatives everywhere, old enemies, and a family seeking vengeance.  Unless Jamie can figure out who all the players are and why they are after her family, she may end up dead...

The words flowed well, the plot was good, and Jamie survives.  She's even found a new boyfriend.  Now I'm going to read the second book in this series and I'm sure it will also be good.