Review – Secrets of the Ravine by Brenda Whiteside @brendawhitesid2 #romanticsuspense

StoreyBook Reviews 

 

 

Synopsis

 

Solve the murder or become the next victim…

 

When a ringer for her long-dead love walks into her life the same day skeletal remains are found at the edge of town, Magpie MacKenzie can’t ignore what the universe is telling her…solve the mystery, or become the next victim.

Lawyer Zack Peartree’s life is orderly and entanglement-free until he visits purportedly haunted Joshua, Arizona, and meets free-wheeling shopkeeper Magpie. Despite experiencing troubling visions and odd moments of déjà vu, Zack’s instantly drawn to Magpie and to the unsolved murder which troubles her so.

Using clues from her father’s past and Zack’s déjà vu moments, Magpie and Zack race to solve the mystery, avoid a murderous fate, and to discover their future…together.

 

 

 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

 

 

Review

 

This small town in Arizona is not for the faint of heart especially if you don’t believe in ghosts or mystical traditions.

Magpie has lived in Joshua for many years and dealt with tragedy when she was a teenager, losing her mother and then later her boyfriend. She took on the role of surrogate mother to her siblings since her father was a mess after his wife died. These events shaped her life and here she is 28 years later blindsided by a man that came into town that resembles her missing boyfriend, Mark.

Zac is younger, 28, but has an immediate connection to Magpie that cannot be explained. They have chemistry and he doesn’t seem to mind the age difference. He is pulled into a search for Callie’s killer, Magpie’s father’s girlfriend that was killed when Mark went missing all those years ago. What he doesn’t expect, nor Magpie for that matter, is that they are putting themselves in a dangerous situation that might not end well should the killer decide they know too much.

This book has a lot going for it – interesting characters, a mystery to be solved, an attraction between Magpie and Zac, family drama, and so much more. I enjoyed the back and forth in time and between the characters and their memories of the past and the history of Joshua. I was on the edge of my seat when Magpie finds herself in a sticky situation and wonder if she will be able to survive. There is also the buildup of the relationship between Magpie and Zac as they search for a killer and protect those they love. I especially enjoyed the mystical aspects of the book and how it affected the characters differently.

Since this is the first book in a new series, I wonder if the future books will focus on the other members of the MacKenzie family.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Brenda Whiteside is the author of suspenseful, action-adventure stories with a touch of romance. Mostly. After living in six states and two countries—so far—she and her husband have decided they are gypsies at heart, splitting their time between Central Arizona and the RV life. They share their home with a rescue dog named Amigo. While FDW is fishing, Brenda writes.

 

Website * Facebook * Twitter

She blogs and has guests: https://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003V15WF8

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3972045.Brenda_Whiteside

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-whiteside

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendawhitesideauthor/

Recommended Posts

4 paws fiction Historical Review WW II

Review & Giveaway – And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by WM Gunn

  And The Walls Came Tumbling Down By W.M. Gunn   Alternative History / Historical Fiction / Family Saga Publisher: Atmosphere Press Publication Date: September 15, 2026   Synopsis And the Walls Came Tumbling Down reimagines the twentieth century as it might have unfolded if fate had shifted—and mercy had not. Two families, one American […]

StoreyBook Reviews 
3 1/2 paws excerpt mystery Review

Review & Excerpt – The Parliament of Crows by Elliot Wren

  Synopsis In Castres, France, Lucie Archambault has come home to begin again. A respected art conservator and recent widow, she has traded the pace of Paris for the quieter rhythms of the Goya Museum, the Saturday market, and a town she once thought she knew. But when Émile Bonnafous, a beloved antiques dealer and […]

StoreyBook Reviews 
excerpt mystery paranormal romance

Excerpt – The Hands that Treat by Kristen H. Casey

  Synopsis Ophelia lives unaware of the mystical world that simmers beneath the cracked streets and soddened earth of the Crescent City. The mysteries and magical gifts of her community are unveiled by her grandmother when Ophelia assumes the role as her family’s next Traiteur. Derived from the French word traiter (“to treat”), Traiteurs are […]

StoreyBook Reviews 

1 Comment

  1. Brenda Whiteside

    Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review Secrets of The Ravine. I appreciate it!

Comments are closed.