Have you ever tried to solve a real mystery? How were your investigative skills?

Sticks and Stones (a Rachel Flynn Mystery) by Susan Meissner

(Paperback)

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Pub. Date: January 2007
ISBN-13: 9780736919159
300pp

From Amazon.com
Book Description

Critically acclaimed author Susan Meissner’s Rachael Flynn mystery series started with the popular Widows and Orphans. In the second serving of intrigue, Sticks and Stones, lawyer Rachael Flynn receives an unsigned, heart-stopping letter:

They’re going to find a body at the Prairie Bluff construction site. He deserved what he got, but it wasn’t supposed to happen. It was an accident.

When the body is uncovered, Rachael and Detective Will Pendleton discover that the fifteen-year old victim, Randall Buckett, had been buried twenty-five years before. Is the letter writer and the killer the same person? Why would someone speak up now? And why are they telling Rachael?

Susan Meissners ability to weave a fascinating tale will leave readers wanting more.

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To tell you the truth, I don’t believe I’ve ever read a cozy mystery. I’m not sure if this would be categorized as a cozy, but it reminds me a little bit of the way a cozy is defined.

This book was good, and it was suspenseful without being too scary. Also, although the characters were Christians, it wasn’t a very preachy book. I think people who read secular fiction would enjoy this book a lot, too.

One thing that happened in this story reminded me of the Brandilyn Collins novel, Eyes of Elisha – Rachael has a supernatural ability from God to sense danger, it’s an ability she realizes she’s received since the birth of her child.

As you read the story, you’ll find yourself sympathizing with the children Bucky tormented twenty-five years ago. You’ll find yourself drawn into the story, mesmerized, wanting to know who sent Rachael the three letters tipping her off about the death a quarter of a century later.

There are also some secondary characters that provide comic relief to this serious mystery. You have Trace, Rachael’s artistic husband, as well as Trace’s artistic cronies. Trace and his friends give their opinions using words and drawings to imagine what might have happened to Ronald Buckett.

Rachael’s uncanny ability is tested when she realizes that something dreadful has happened in the cellar of a house in Bucky’s neighborhood. The house has been burned down long ago, and is now replaced by another dwelling. However, although the serious crime happened long ago, Racheal can still sense that there was pain and anguish behind Bucky’s death.

This is a good read to grab for a rainy day, when you just want to curl up in front of the fire with an intriguing and suspenseful story.

So, have you ever tried to solve a real mystery on your own? Were you successful?