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. ( )

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.

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.

Going, Gone is part of the Gail McCarthy series by Laura Crum. The main character is a veterinarian whose life revolves around her family and horses. In this book, the family is visiting McCarthy’s old boyfriend when he is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend and her brother. The book mostly focuses on details of the family’s camping and horse-riding, while trying to include a loosely-spun whodunit.

Perhaps for someone who is interested in horses, this would be an enjoyable easy read. The mystery is very primitively written, with fairly obvious outcomes. As a character is introduced, it’s very easy to see whether they are going to be good or bad—no in-between complexities to intrigue the reader. The character of McCarthy’s husband seems to be extremely weak. McCarthy goes off with a male friend from high school to help clear her ex-boyfriend from a murder charge. Yet her husband contentedly sits by the wayside and babysits their child. Here would be a place to add some conflict to the story or to get her husband involved in solving the crime. The dialogue is also quite primitive. The interactions between McCarthy and her young son seem a little too mushy for my tastes. In fact, those parts of the book seem to detract from the mystery. It’s almost as if Crum would prefer to write about families and horses and just added the mystery part in order to attract a wider audience.

Having read my share of mysteries for over thirty years, this is definitely one of the weakest I’ve ever read. It was a struggle to keep my attention long enough to finish it. ( )

Gail McCarthy story lovers will have a good read with this episode. Strikes me as a perfect series to turn into a broadcast series. Concise, but detailed plot, well constructed characters present a lovely story of the perils of ranching and conservation. Recommended reading for horse lovers and cozy mystery readers. ( )