Review & #Giveaway – Moon Games by Shelly Frome @shellyFrome #mystery
Moon Games
Cozy Mystery/Amateur Sleuth
Milford House Press (August 6, 2018)
Paperback: 264 pages
Synopsis
At the outset, Miranda Davis has nothing much going for her. The tourists are long gone by October in the quaint Carolina town of Black Mountain, her realty business is at a standstill, and her weekend stint managing the local tavern offers little to pull her out of the doldrums. When prominent church lady Cloris Raintree offers a stipend to look into the whereabouts of a missing girl hiker on the Q.T, Miranda, along with her partner Harry (an unemployed features writer) agree.
But then it all backfires. A burly figure shambles down a mountain slope with a semi-conscious girl draped over his shoulder. Miranda’s attempts to uncover Cloris Raintree’s true motives become near impossible as she puts up one smokescreen after another, including a slip of the tongue regarding an incident in Havana. The local police keep stonewalling and Harry is of little help.
Tarot cards left on Cloris’ doorstep and arcane prompts on her e-mail only exacerbate the situation. Growing more desperate over the captive girl’s fate, Miranda comes across a link to a cold case of arson and murder. With the advent of the dark of the moon, she is summoned to “Tower Time” as this twisty tale continues to run its course.
Review
You might want to have a notepad handy when reading this book! The characters move at warp speed and the information hits you like a runaway locomotive.
This is the first book I have read by this author and the book took some time for me to get into the groove. When I first started reading this book I wasn’t really sure what was going on or why Miranda and Harry were looking for this missing girl. There were many pieces to the puzzle and it was hard to determine what clue went where and who did what which is why the reader might need a notebook or whiteboard to keep track like Miranda and Harry.
Miranda is the protagonist with quite a varied background. She is a realtor, manages a tavern, and plays detective in her spare time. I think she is a bit scattered which is why she needs a whiteboard to keep track of it all. I’m not quite sure why she isn’t telling those that are helping her all the details. She even admits later in the book about trying to keep straight what information she shared with Harry or Scooter. I suppose since Scooter is sort of an unknown in the equation. I will say that when I first started reading the book and Scooter came up, I thought it was a man but I was wrong. Scooter is a bit of a wildcard and I’m not sure what her end game is and what she really wants from Miranda.
The clues start coming together about 60% of the way through the book and things start to make a little more sense. There were some twists I wasn’t prepared for and they helped round out the story.
Overall we would give this 3 1/2 paws. I feel like the story could have been set up better in the beginning so the reader does not feel like they have been thrown into the middle of a story with no guidance with the objective. However, the story does end well and made it worth reading.
About the Author
Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor and, all told, has written over twenty-five plays in addition to his articles and novels.
A frequent contributor of articles on all facets of creative writing and acting, Shelly appears in numerous periodicals including Southern Writers Magazine where he is the film columnist. He is also a contributor to writers’ blogs and websites in the U.S. and the U.K.
His fiction includes Twilight of the Drifter, The Twinning Murders, and Lilac Moon. His Hollywood crime caper Tinseltown Riff was released in March 2013. His latest crime novel Murder Run was just released in August.
Among his works of non-fiction are the acclaimed The Actors Studio and texts on The Art and Craft of Screenwriting and writing for the stage. Shelly lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
