Review: Arrested Flight

Arrested Flight

by Jo A. Hiestand

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GENRE: British mystery

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BLURB:

Ex-police detective Michael McLaren is determined to have a peaceful holiday after the fiasco of his first attempt at Windermere, so he stops at a bed-and-breakfast in Moorton, a village in Cumbria.  But mystery and murder seek him out, and he soon succumbs to the B&B owner’s plea to investigate the year-old death of her daughter’s fiancé, a young musician.

The Lake District parish seems peaceful, but a rival  musician’s jealousy and a business partner’s anger boil beneath the façade.  Mix that with ‘Barmy Barry’s’ sightings of fairy lights  at the castle, references to Uther Pendragon's return and the secrets in the woods, and McLaren finds his sanity shaky.

When the vicar is attacked and Barry disappears, McLaren sets a trap for the killer.  But as it plays out, his concern shifts from the potential capture to praying he and his friend can escape with their lives.

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EXCERPT:

Barry looked up, apparently aware of McLaren for the first time, and called, “If Vicar takes you into the church, stay away from the soul in the coffin.”

McLaren turned around, clearly surprised. “Pardon?”

“The soul,” Barry reiterated while chewing, “It lives by the coffin near the north aisle. It’s a big coffin.” He turned to face Church Lane, holding out his arms and gazing at the sky. Wriggling his left arm, he said, “It’s on the north aisle.”

“Have you seen the soul, Barry?”

“Lots of times. Morning, noon and night. He comes out more at night. He doesn’t like to be seen. He told me.”

“He must get cramped, lying in that tomb.”

“He comes out when the fairies fly around with their lights, so he can see. Church is awful dark at night. He don’t frighten me, but there’s others do.”

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My Review:

Arrested Flight is a Michael McLaren mystery, and I've got to hand it to the author. I don't live in Britain, but when reading Arrested Flight I felt as though I were. The author has a marvelous talent for dropping the reader into the setting and making the reader feel like he/she is a part of the action. I love McLaren's character too. He's an ex-cop, tough yet upright and moral and as vulnerable as the rest of us. I liked his compassion for the innocent, and his brilliant strategy as he went after the criminals. Hiestand wove a cunning plot for this mystery. All the clues were there, but I didn't figure out what was going on until McLaren did. If you like British mysteries I highly recommend this one to you. 5 stars.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A month-long trip to England during her college years introduced Jo to the joys of Things British.  Since then, she has been lured back nearly a dozen times, and lived there during her professional folksinging stint.  This intimate knowledge of Britain forms the backbone of both the Taylor & Graham mysteries and the McLaren mystery series.

 Jo’s insistence for accuracyfrom police methods and location layout to the general “feel” of the areahas driven her innumerable times to Derbyshire for research.  These explorations and conferences with police friends provide the detail filling the books.

In 1999 Jo returned to Webster University to major in English.  She graduated in 2001 with a BA degree and departmental honors.

Her cat, Tennyson, shares her St. Louis home.

https://www.johiestand.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Jo-A.-Hiestand/e/B0057SO7VI

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/635131.Jo_A_Hiestand

https://www.goodreads.com/series/132095-mclaren-case-mysteries

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Jo A. Hiestand will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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#BookReview An Unfolding Trap

An Unfolding Trap

by Jo A. Hiestand

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GENRE: British mystery

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BLURB:

Since his infancy, Michael McLaren has been the target of his paternal grandfather’s anger. So when the patriarch sends an invitation to heal the rift, McLaren travels to Scotland, eager to meet and finally end the feud. But the welcome never happens. If Grandfather hadn’t invited him, who had?  And why?

In Edinburgh, a man standing beside McLaren in a bus queue is killed in a hit-and-run accident. After an attack leaves McLaren for dead on a wintry moor, he’s convinced someone from his past is trying to murder him.

As McLaren trails the hit-and-run driver from the medieval ‘underground city’ of Edinburgh to the Boar’s Rock  the MacLaren Clan’s ancestral meeting place the assaults intensify, and he’s plunged into a very personal hunt for a World War II treasure. The puzzle is fascinating; he just has to stay alive to solve it.

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EXCERPT

Excerpt:

Ross leaned forward, closing the distance between them. “You’re sure you didn’t get angry when you found him this afternoon?”

“Of course I got angry!  Who the hell wouldn’t? The bloody git killed a man, frightened a dozen others who were there, kidnapped Miss Skene, held her hostage⎯”  McLaren stopped before saying Lanny had knocked him on the head and left him for dead in the marshland along the loch, or that he was a threat to Neill McLaren. He took a deep breath. “But I didn’t kill him. I tied him up so he wouldn’t escape, then phoned you when I could.”

“An hour later.” The voice was flat, unimpressed.

“Yes. An hour later. Maybe ninety minutes. I didn’t write down the time, but I phoned here, in the village.”

“Why wait so long to ring us?”

“Pardon?” The suspicion that things were turning horribly wrong whispered to McLaren.

“Why didn’t you phone right then? Did you want to put some space between you and the killing so you could establish an alibi?”


My Review:

I like British mysteries. The atmosphere is usually different from that in American work. For one thing, police procedures seem a little different. They're up to date, but a little different in the way things are done. The language and expressions are just a bit different too. 

I liked this book because the author very cleverly stacked clue on top of clue, and the inspector had to use every bit of his skill and imagination to solve the mystery and save several lives. I don't think I cold have solved this mastery the way he did.

I also liked how some issues from the past resolved themselves in the life of the inspector. He was carrying a burden that had really done a number on him, but  he ended up finding peace. 

The plot moved steadily along and was complex enough to keep my interest. The characters themselves were likable and easy to relate to. I can recommend the book to any mystery lover.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A month-long trip to England during her college years introduced Jo to the joys of Things British.  Since then, she has been lured back nearly a dozen times, and lived there during her professional folk singing stint.  This intimate knowledge of Britain forms the backbone of both the Taylor & Graham mysteries and the McLaren cold case mystery series.

 Jo’s insistence for accuracy, from police methods and location layout to the general feel of the area, has driven her innumerable times to Derbyshire for research.  These explorations and conferences with police friends provide the detail filling the books.

In 1999 Jo returned to Webster University to major in English.  She graduated in 2001 with a BA degree and departmental honors.

Her cat Tennyson shares her St. Louis home.

LINKS:

www.johiestand.com

www.Mclaren-mysteries.com

and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jo-Hiestand-Mystery-Author/203133803128

Jo A .Hiestand will be awarding an international giveaway of a Union Jack tea towel and oven mitt, along with a McLaren-themed gel mousepad to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Use the link below to enter.

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