Sacred Cows by Karen E Olson, 304 pagesaround the states: Connecticut; herding cats
The start of a new mystery series, I've read literary feline and chris at book-a-rama rave about this author for a few years now. I'm so glad I finally picked this up at the library.
The characteristics I like in a mystery series protagonist:
strong female character lead: check
romantic dilemma between two great guys: check
daughter has mother issues: check
reluctant to get into dangerous situations, yet continually getting beat up: check
messy and eats out all the time: check
I know, this sounds like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but I much preferred Annie Seymour to Stephanie Plum. I liked the humor more and the story seemed somewhat more realistic. I also liked Tom and Vinnie more as the romantic leads, especially Vinnie. I hope he's around for the next book. Annie is a reporter assigned to the police beat who happens to be, somewhat not very secretly, dating a cop. When a dead Yale student turns up, Annie is assigned to investigate. Things begin to escalate as she looks further.
The cow reference was very funny, as Hartford Connecticut is populated with huge decorated cows for the summer, and Annie hates them, but has to write a story about them, and of course, they are everywhere. I saw cows like that in Athens a few years ago:
That's me and my sister, ctoan, who comments here now and then. The cows are pretty awesome, but I can also see how they would be annoying in your own town, especially if everyone else is excited about them.If you like the Stephanie Plum series, (even if you don't, like me), check out the Annie Seymour series by Karen E Olson. I will be looking for the next in the series, Secondhand Smoke.
I did not get into the Stephanie Plum series, but I've been looking for some good mysteries, so perhaps I'll give this one a try.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun book and the start of a great series. Adding it to the TBR list, thanks!
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