Alison Bruce (2)

Kate Garret, previously a provincial police officer has taken leave due to the death of her father. Having read the first book of the series I knew this was the Ontario Provincial Police of the RCMP.

While Kate is on leave, she is working at the private investigator agency that Joe and Jake Carmedy had built. When the police asked her to take on a cat poisoning case in the East Hill area, she agrees without consulting Jake. Jake seems miffed because it is the holiday season and year end with a previously planned work load.

Why did the police ask her to investigate? Is this a prestigious area? Do they get preferential treatment?

Kate is busy working with the neighborhood watch to foot patrol the area. When she suddenly makes a mental leap that this case may be connected to her father’s last police case (it is in the same area.) This is where the story lost credibility for me. All of a sudden, she is trying to locate the abusive husband who shot Joe, his wife and Joe’s last police partner. She is busy reading Joe’s 11-year-old case notes.

From here the story went downhill
(1) as the author tries to create a romance between Carmedy and Garret, which just isn’t believable.
(2) Kate is busy re-investigating her father’s last police case
(3) and, the Police Chief wants everything to stand still while they have a holiday dinner at his home.

Too confusing and improbable. There is more but I had already tuned out.… (meer)

Rookie detective Kate Garrett lived in the shadow of her near-legendary father Joe. When Joe dies unexpectedly, he leaves Kate half interest in Garrett Investigations, his last case that ties to three murders, a partner she can't stand and a legacy to live up to.

Jake Carmedy has lost his partner partner, mentor and friend now he has a case to solve, one that has detoured from a simple insurance case to a murder investigation and a partner that thinks she is his boss.

The story style of alternating chapters of narrated by different characters seldom works for me. And, at 20% read I still had no idea what the story was about. Way too much set up, I was bored!

This ended up being a hard read, the story abounds with too much technology, And, when inheriting a half interest in a business does it make you the boss especially when you didn't work in the business prior yet the other heir did? This failure to fit my logic meant I couldn’t engage with the characters or the story, it was really difficult to finish.… (meer)

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review and rated it 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

A mystery “ Qwickie”, Deadly Season by Alison Bruce is a light hearted, fun and the perfect lunchtime snack for any mystery lover. While the story is short, the characters are well developed and the mystery takes several twists and turns. Adding in a light touch of humor, after all this is a mystery involving pets, and a light touch of romance, Ms. Bruce kept me entertained from start to finish. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

I enjoyed getting to meet Kate Garrett and Jake Carmody, reluctant business partners after the death of Kate’s dad. You could tell right from the start that there was some kind of history between them and there was plenty of tension to make you wonder when they would acknowledge how they really felt about each other. Kate is the kind of female investigator you want on your side and Jake is also quite good. I think as the series develops that their individual strengths will only improve their business – of course they both have to survive whoever is killing the pets and whoever had been after Kate’s dad.

The mystery is solid and as I said earlier takes several twist and turns. The story’s pace is fairly quick and I found myself turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next. The secondary characters were also well developed and helped to add color and depth to the story. All in all, I really enjoyed reading the story and wished it had been longer.

Will Kate discover who is killing the pets and why? Will Jake finally confess how he feels about Kate before it’s too late? You’ll have to read Deadly Season to find out. I can’t wait to read the next installment.… (meer)