Girl with a Gun (An Annie Oakley Mystery) by Kari Bovee

Genre: Historical Mystery / Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Bosque Publishing

Release date: April 2020

Synopsis

She’s on the rise to fame and fortune, but her sudden notoriety comes with some deadly consequences.

Annie Oakley thrives as a sharpshooter in the Wild West Show. Finally, she has a chance to save her family’s farm—and make her dreams come true.

But her act misfires when she discovers her Indian assistant dead in her tent. Uncovering a shocking secret from her assistant’s past, the girl with the gun believes it’s murder. Determined to find the truth, she ruffles some horse feathers, making enemies along the trail.

​But, when her prized gelding is stolen, Annie realizes she might have been the target all along.

Can Little Miss Sure Shot save her equine friend and find the killer before everything she’s worked for is destroyed?

​If you like a cunning mystery, a feisty heroine, and a fast-paced plot that keeps the pages turning, you’ll love this wild ride with the iconic Annie Oakley in the saddle.

Audible ~ Amazon

Review

Take a journey back to the Wild West with Annie Oakley, Frank Butler, and the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. While this is a fictional story, there are parts of this story based on fact which gave me a peek into the past while enjoying this story.

Annie is but 15 when hired as a sharpshooter for the Wild West Show. Considering the financial straits her family is in, she signs up with the show. What she doesn’t expect is to become wrapped up in helping solve some murders with nothing more than her intuition and a few clues left behind. She has a little help from some new friends, but many still stand in her way and don’t believe what she is saying and this shouldn’t be a surprise since it is 1885 and men tend to think women don’t know too much.

I thought Annie was spunky to leave her family at that age to join the show, but I understand the responsibility that she feels towards her family and helping them survive especially since her mom has taken up with a deadbeat that drinks any of the money that they receive. I felt like Annie had to grow up quickly at that point as she was thrust into the limelight with her rifle and pistol acumen and entertaining the crowds. While not everything worked out well in the shows, the crowds were entertained and enthralled by Annie’s abilities. She was quite a celebrity!

The mystery is well crafted and while there are several red herrings tossed into the mix, I suspected who the killer was but didn’t have too many facts to back up my gut instinct. I enjoyed following the clues and trying to firm up my guess with facts sprinkled throughout the book.

There is a little bit of romance too for Annie and Frank Butler. In a way, it seemed strange since she was just 15, but at the same time, this is a different world in the late 1800s and really shouldn’t have been too surprising. I appreciate that the author stayed true to who Annie married in real life.

There was one passage that really caught my eye between Annie and a suffragette named Emma Wilson, who was also a local reporter. This speaks volumes to me.

“I admire you, Annie. With your sweet face, you look like a prim little girl in those sparkly cowgirl outfits, but you are fierce – you are making a difference in the world of women, inspiring women to be stronger, to let the world know that women can be might without losing their femininity. Have you thought about joining the suffragette movement?”

Overall, this is an intriguing mystery and I look forward to reading the next book and where Annie’s adventures take her (and I have an idea since this book ended with a clue!)

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white-sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Bovee writes the award-winning Annie Oakley Mystery Series and the Grace Michelle Mystery Series and has more ideas than time for many, many more.

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Giveaway

Enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card courtesy of the author of the Annie Oakley Mysteries! (one winner) (ends Feb 11)

GIRL WITH A GUN (Annie Oakley Mystery) Audiobook Tour Giveaway