Review: Dead on Ice

ABL Review At-A-Glance

• Title:  Dead on Ice
• My Rating: 4.5
• Genre:  Mystery, Suspense
• Author:  Lauren Carr
• Format:  Audiobook
• Publication Date:  September 1, 2012

Compare To:

Synopsis

Dead on Ice is the first installment of Lauren Carr’s new series (Lovers in Crime) featuring Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton and Pennsylvania State Police homicide detective Cameron Gates.

Spunky Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a legendary star of pornographic films, whose body turns up in an abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to her lover, Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was located in his cousin’s basement. It doesn’t take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué star’s roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept her hometown off her road map, too—because when this starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal homecoming.

My Thoughts…

This is not my first Lauren Carr book and it won’t be my last.  I’m so excited to get to start a new series with her. I can’t exactly point to the reason I enjoy her writing so much, but I genuinely do. 

The characters are always well rounded and funny without being silly.  In Dead on Ice, we meet Joshua Thornton and Cameron Gates who already in a relationship.  In a way, it felt like we dropped into the middle of their story, which was a great change of pace.  Most stories show a relationship developing within the mystery.  Here, we start a mystery with an established couple and watch them try to solve it.  And their relationship is so real, with life complications and honest conflicts.

I do want to mention that I wouldn’t mind a character chart.  There are a lot of ancillary characters in this book, meaning a lot of suspects to keep track of.  The relationships between each person and their motives became a little complicated, so you really have to pay attention while reading. *Update* Check out the comments for information from the author!!!

I also love the setting. You don’t get a lot of books written in small town West Virginia, so when a good one is written, I really enjoy reading it.  Having grown up in the tri-state area of Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, I completely understood the mentality and mindset described in Dead on Ice.

Most importantly, Lauren Carr continued her streak of lovable and hysterical animal characters. I don’t know why they aren’t included in the blurb for this book, because they provide so much of the comic relief and charm. I’m not even a cat person, but the cat had so many start moments.

What’s Missing

If a book falls short of a 5 star rating, I try to figure out why instead of leaving it to the whim of my feelings.  Sometimes, I am successful with this, sometimes I’m not.  The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars was because I figured out the mystery pretty quickly.  Otherwise, it was a thoroughly entertaining read.

Conclusion

If you enjoy mystery or crime novels, you should be reading Lauren Carr.  She’s a great writer, with good stories and even better characters. 

*Special thanks to Lauren Carr, Acorn Book Services, and iRead Book Tours for a copy of dead on Ice in exchange for an honest review.

Meet the author:    With over forty years of writing and publishing experience, international best-selling author Lauren Carr has played an active role in the revolution of independent authors.

While studying for her college degree in English and journalism, Lauren worked as an editor and layout design artist with the federal government in Washington, DC. It was there that Lauren learned the foundations necessary for book publishing. 

Lauren’s debut mystery, A Small Case of Murder was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards. On the heels of that success, she accepted an offer from a traditional publisher for A Reunion to Die For.

When it came time to publish her third book, Lauren rejected offers from two traditional publishers, choosing instead to independently publish It’s Murder, My Son, which made it to #1 in sales on Amazon in cozy mysteries. She has never regretted her decision to become an independent author.

Realizing that she could use her experiences to help other writers achieve their dreams to become published authors, Lauren established Acorn Book Services, offering professional services to independent authors.

The international best-selling author of over twenty-five murder mysteries, Lauren has gone on dozens of virtual blog tours (most with iRead Book Tours!) and has seen first-hand that how an author publishes is irrelevant to success. The key is exposure to potential readers. Virtual blog tours are an excellent avenue for book promotion. Book spotlights, reviews, author guest posts and interviews are forever, unlike in-person book events, which become a memory as soon as they have finished.

With her vast experience, it seemed only natural for Lauren Carr to jump at the opportunity to join the iReads Book Tours team. She lives with her husband, and two spoiled rotten German shepherds on a mountain in West Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

You can usually find Lauren plotting her next murder mystery in her writer’s studio on her mountaintop. Visit Lauren’s  website https://mysterylady.net/ to learn more about her murder mysteries, Acorn Book Services, and now iReads Book Tours!

Connect with the author:   Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~  Instagram