by Mary A. Adair
I just finished TARNISHED REMAINS, second book in Pat Jager’s Shandra Higheagle Mysteries. A Big 5 Stars!
I just finished TARNISHED REMAINS, second book in Pat Jager’s Shandra Higheagle Mysteries. A Big 5 Stars!
This story is a murder
mystery set in Idaho on Shandra Higheagle’s farm. Shandra grew up with
little memory of her father who died in an accident when she was a small child.
Thanks to her grandmother she grew up understanding her Native American
heritage. This is a part of the story I really liked, after her grandmother’s
death, her grandmother still visited Shandra in her dreams. Shandra accepted
that she dreamed of her grandmother and the visits seem to help her through the
rough patches in her life, which includes solving murder mysteries, but she
still feels the visits are actually her mind‘s own way of working through the
issues.
Well, it seems Shandra has a
knack for finding dead bodies. In Tarnished Remains Shandra unearths a
body while digging on her own property to retrieve the clay needed to fashion
her pottery. Can you imagine just digging away in your garden and unearthing an
old boot with the foot still in it?!
Detective Ryan Greer is the
first person to come to her mind as the person to call. If you haven’t read
book one in the series, she and the detective worked together before. Shandra
was his main suspect in book one. This is mentioned in book two and flows with
the story. TARNISHED REMAINS is a complete story and stands on its own.
So don’t worry if you haven’t read book one, it is not necessary to understand
the second book.
TARNISHED REMAINS kept me on my toes. Just when I thought I knew who
the murderer was, I changed my mind. I just loved the small town atmosphere and
all the quirky people living there. I reminded me of the small town I grew up
near and went to school in. I swear, everyone in this book looked at least a
little guilty at some part of the story. It had me guessing till the very end. When the true culprit was revealed it made perfect sense.
I give TARNISHED REMAINS 5
stars. It is a small town murder mystery with a hint of budding true love. There
is also the dream-visiting grandmother. I always love a touch of super
natural. I also love a big, loveable,
and scared-of-his-own-shadow-dog. I have
one of those and I love her, love her, love her! What else could you ask for? I
loved it.
It is a stand alone story so
you don’t have to read them in sequence, but if you haven’t read book one it
would be great fun to read it first.
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