Laura Crum

Going, Gone: A Gail McCarthy Mystery. I am a new comer to the series. I started with this book. I don't know what her other books are like in the series, but for someone who hasn't been following her other books, there wasn't any introduction to the characters. I guess you were already expected to know them. I found this book to be not a very satisfying mystery. There weren't any clues really, the solution was just kind of thrown on you. It was a quick read, and some of the scenery was nicely described, but overall not my favorite mystery. Reading about the horses was fun and it does get exciting towards the end of the book.… (mehr)

In Going, Gone, Gail McCarthy, her husband, son and horses take a camping vacation on old friend Lonny Peterson’s property. Lonny has been accused of murder and Gail believing him innocent accompanies the deputy sheriff, another old friend to discover the real killer. The plot however was secondary to the overlong descriptions of “beautiful landscapes” and “authentic horse lore” which while possibly interesting to some, did little to advance this unexciting mystery.
Overall, I found the plot thin, the mystery unsatisfactory, the characters flat and one dimensional, and the writing simplistic. Though a minor complaint, the use of present tense in the middle of the book was particularly grating.
This one is not a keeper for me.… (mehr)

This is the 11th book in the Gail McCarthy series, but the first I've read. I was surprised that I hadn't heard about this series already. I'm sure that there was a lot of backstory that I was missing, but didn't feel disjointed reading this book out of order. Gail is a homeschooling mom, who used to be a large animal vet. She goes to visit a friend, who is arrested for murdering his girlfriend. Gail is convinced of his innocence, and investigates quietly. Although the vignettes on homeschooling and the mother/child relationship sometimes seemed to be overly sentimental, I enjoyed this book and will look for others in this series.… (mehr)