by Cynthia Chow

Details on how to win a copy of this book at the end of the review.

While the New Mexico Bike Rally Weekend will provide the Black Horse Campground with much needed guests and revenue, it also has owner Corrie Black short-handed and relying on the unfortunately less-than-reliable Oscar “Buster” Bustamante, and flighty and flirtatious Dee Dee Simpson for help maintaining and cleaning the campground Corrie inherited from her late father.

Corrie’s long-term employees are off for their granddaughter’s wedding, but even if they had been present, no one could have expected that one of Black Horse’s most frequent visitors, Marvin Landry, would be found shot dead inside his RV and his wheelchair-bound wife locked inside their bathroom. Betty Landry’s argumentative and aggressively obnoxious son, whom no one knew even existed, would appear to be the most likely suspect were it not for the biker J.D. Wilder, who rolled in as unobtrusively and quietly as one can while riding a Harley.

The death and threat to the finances of Black Horse would be stressful enough even without the investigation being led by Sheriff Rick Sutton. Sutton, Corrie’s former love who broke her heart, is now divorced and seems annoyingly protective and judgmental, especially about Corrie’s interactions with the alluring J.D. Attractive and mysterious, J.D. definitely has some secrets of his own and if they have anything to do with the shooting or the Landry’s missing fifty-thousand dollars in cash, Rick will assuredly figure it out. J.D. himself will be occupied with getting to know Corrie, avoiding the busybody Rosemary Westlake and her annoying pug Bon-Bon, and somehow preventing himself from getting involved in an investigation where the sheriff has him definitely in sight.

Author Bennett takes her time allowing the reader to get to know her characters before introducing the murder, and this is a worthwhile investment for the reader as Corrie, Rick, and J.D. all prove to be very complex, likable, and fully developed characters. The romantic triangle is introduced with a light hand and done very believably with the obstacles they face never seeming to be placed simply as convenient plot devices.

What I enjoyed was that while Corrie somewhat justifiably demands to know what is going on in the investigation of a murder, Rick shuts her down and very realistically informs her that she has absolutely no right to be involved in a homicide investigation. Now the reader knows that Corrie’s not going to accept that but it is refreshing to see an investigator who has close ties to a witness actually follow the law and proper procedure. The rest of the characters are similarly fully formed and a delight to discover and I would love to continue to follow Corrie as she, Rick, and J.D. progress in their complicated but enjoyable dynamic in what looks to be the beginning of a very fun and skillfully written mystery series.

To enter to win a copy of End of the Raod, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “End,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen September 21, 2013. U.S. residents only.

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