Today I am reviewing Another Man’s Ground by Claire Booth for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): It starts out as an interesting little theft case. Branson, Missouri’s new Sheriff, Hank Worth, is called out to look at stands of trees that have been stripped of their bark, which the property owner had planned to harvest for the booming herbal supplement market. At first, Hank easily balances the demands of the investigation with his fledgling political career. He was appointed several months earlier to the vacant sheriff position, but he needs to win the fast-approaching election in order to keep his job. He thinks the campaign will go well, as long as he’s able to keep secret the fact that a group of undocumented immigrants – hired to cut down the stripped trees – have fled into the forest and he’s deliberately not looking for them.

But then the discovery of a murder victim deep in the Ozark backwoods sets him in the middle of a generations-old feud that explodes into danger not only for him, but also for the immigrants, his deputies, and his family. He must rush to find a murderer before election day, and protect the vulnerable in Branson County, where politicking is hell and trespassing can get you killed.

My review: I reviewed the first book in this new series by Claire Booth – The Branson Beauty – last year and was very impressed by Booth’s writing and the character of Hank Worth. So when the chance to review the second book in the series came up, I happily said yes.

This book takes up where the last one left off. Hank Worth is an honest man, determined to do his job in spite of those who are against him, including a wealthy businessman who wields a lot of power in the community – a man who Hank tangled with in the previous story and who Hank suspects is as crooked as the day is long. Hank is running for office and his opponent is a cop who isn’t very nice or very qualified and who has allegiances to the wealthy businessman.

While all this is going on, the mystery starts. Booth writes evocatively of the area around Branson, Missouri. She knows it well. Many of the characters from the first novel return, Hank’s wife and children and father-in-law, the eager young policeman Hank calls The Pup, his colleague Sheila, and those who are entrenched in their ways and don’t much like a Sheriff who moved there from another state, even though his wife grew up there. As in the first novel, greed and corruption weigh heavily in the storyline.

Booth handles a multi-layered plot with ease and assurance. Just as I did when reading the first novel in this Hank Worth series, I found myself caught up in the lives of the inhabitants of Branson. And I really like Hank, a guy who is reluctant to do the politics thing, though he has to in order to run for Sheriff. He is a great protagonist. I look forward to more books in this series.

About the author: Claire Booth spent more than a decade as a daily newspaper reporter, much of it covering crimes so convoluted and strange they seemed more like fiction than reality. Eventually, she had enough of the real world and decided to write novels instead. Her Sheriff Hank Worth series takes place in Branson, Missouri, where small-town Ozark politics and big-city country tourism clash in, yes, strange and convoluted ways.

One of you will win a copy of Another Man’s Ground. Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner on Friday evening. Good luck!

Happy Monday.

Today I am reviewing The Right Side by Spencer Quinn for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in return for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): In this riveting new novel by the New York Times  bestselling author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series, a deeply damaged female soldier home from the war in Afghanistan becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl, gains an unlikely ally in a strange dog, and encounters new perils beyond the combat zone.

LeAnne Hogan went to Afghanistan as a rising star in the military, and came back a much lesser person, mentally and physically. Now missing an eye and with half her face badly scarred, she can barely remember the disastrous desert operation that almost killed her. She is confused, angry, and suspects the fault is hers, even though no one will come out and say it.

Shattered by one last blow – the sudden death of her hospital roommate, Marci – LeAnne finds herself on a fateful drive across the country, reflecting on her past and seeing no future. Her native land is now unfamiliar, recast in shadow by her one good eye, her damaged psyche, and her weakened body. Arriving in the rain-soaked small town in Washington state that Marci had called home, she makes a troubling discovery: Marci’s eight year old daughter has vanished. When a stray dog – a powerful, dark, unreadable creature, no one’s idea of a pet – seems to adopt LeAnne, a surprising connection is formed and something shifts inside her. As she becomes obsessed with finding Marci’s daughter, LeAnne and her inscrutable canine companion are drawn into danger as dark and menacing as her last Afghan mission. This time she has a strange but loyal fellow traveller protecting her blind side.

My review: LeAnne is one of the thornier heroines I have encountered. She’s tough, she’s very, very angry, and she’s damaged. All of that makes her compelling and fascinating. After returning home with a missing eye and physical and emotional scars, LeAnne is trying to put some semblance of a life back together. She doesn’t want the therapy that the powers-that-be at Walter Reed think she should have, she doesn’t want to play games, and she can’t remember what happened during the mission. She has trouble remembering, period.

Quinn deftly takes us along for the ride in this novel, where, along with the action in the present, scraps and bits of memory come back to LeAnne and drift away again. After Marci unexpectedly dies, LeAnne leaves Walter Reed, goes AWOL, and starts on her trek across the country. Her anger percolates just beneath the surface and, at times, erupts during her encounters with strangers along the way. At times, she seems to be a ticking time bomb, even contemplating suicide.

Pursued (gently) by an officer who is trying to piece together what happened on that mission, she also revisits her hometown and encounters her mother –  a necessary part of the beginning of healing.

I take a wee bit of issue with the blurb from the publisher, which makes it sound like the mystery of Marci’s young daughter is the bulk of the story. It’s not. Rather, the mystery is a personal one: what happened on the mission, what went wrong, was LeAnne to blame, and will she find peace and healing. That’s the mystery. The mystery of the missing child is important but that doesn’t happen until about 2/3 of the way through the book.

Quinn writes very well, indeed, and I found this book fascinating and couldn’t put it down. The dog is written beautifully. Anyone who has ever loved a dog, especially an abused dog (and I have), will understand. LeAnne and the dog are both damaged and there is a bit of the mystical about the dog’s sudden appearance in her life. Together, they form an unlikely, yet beautiful bond.

Quinn also writes of battles and wars and the Army with honesty and a reality that doesn’t pull any punches. You’ll feel as if you’re there, watching the mission unfold.

I think you’ll really like this novel. We all seek redemption in some form or other. LeAnne is no different than any of us. You’ll be rooting for her.

About the author: Spencer Quinn is the #1 New York Times  bestselling author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series, as well as the bestselling Bowser and Birdie series for middle grade readers. He lives on Cape Cod with his wife Diana – and dogs Audrey and Pearl.

I am giving away a copy of this book. At this point, I’m unsure if it will come from the publisher or will be my personal copy. Either way, if you’re interested, leave a comment on this post and I’ll draw the winner’s name on Friday evening. Good luck!

Happy Tuesday.