Candy Apple Red

Title : Candy Apple Red
Series : #1 Jane Kelly
Author : Nancy Bush
Rating : * * *

Characters : Jane Kelly is thirty something and tired of her job as a process server. Dwayne Durbin is a cute cowboy type who hires Kelly as an information specialist (aka PI). Tim Murphy is Kelly’s former boyfriend, whom she followed to Oregon just to get dumped by him. Binkster is a pug left to Jane by a distant relative. Bobby is a missing man who turns up dead.

Setting : Lake Chinook Oregon. Rural small town community around the lake.

Basic Plot : Tim, the ex’s, best friend Bobby Reynolds is the assumed murderer of his wife and children, but Bobby has been missing for four years. Tess, the mother of the assumed murderer wants to know if her ex Cotton has seen Bobby, so she hires Jane. If that isn’t complicated enough Tim and Jane are both invited to attend an event at Cotton’s only to see Tim’s body surface in the lake.

Comments : This is a light read with little tension and little action and the plot is fairly predictable. There is a lot of description in this book, maybe to the point of excess. Fortunately the characters grow on you and Jane’s unorthodox investigating style is smile worthy. If anything it is a good set up for following books in the series.

Similar : Unseen (Nancy Bush), Wicked Game (Lisa Jackson)