Murder on the Brazos (A Fen Maguire Mystery #2)

Author: Bruce Hammack

5 out of 5 stars

Retired Sheriff Fen Maguire has just set up by the river to start painting when the dead body of a drug dealer floats by. While he tries to ignore the case, the incompetence of the new sheriff, his former sister-in-law, makes it hard. And when he starts to see signs of corruption by multiple people in the police department and hints of a framejob, he knows he can’t ignore it anymore. Can Fen figure out who the actual culprits are, or will the wrong man be arrested?

This book was interesting and well written. The first third of the book did focus more on Fen’s life and the drama surrounding his late wife’s family instead of the murder case, but then things picked up. Fen starts gathering information and putting pieces together as it becomes obvious to him and the reader how deep some of the corruption runs.

Fen is very well respected by nearly everyone in his community, which is shown by people still calling him sheriff. He’s also a grieving widower, whose wife has been gone for over a year. But he’s starting to move on as he decides to get his P.I. license, and we find out he’s actually only recently started to paint again. He’s also a very good investigator and able to quickly make connections. This case was unusual in that he solved it through observation and what information was slipped to him. I’d be interested in seeing him investigating a case in a more standard investigator role.

There wasn’t anything I disliked about this book, so I’m rating it 5 out of 5 stars. If you’re looking for a mystery crime novel that’s character focused, then you should definitely pick this one up.

Current price through Amazon Kindle: $2.99

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BNNZLFSJ

(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)