⛪ 🏡 🚓 "Solid Ground" (An Adairsville Heritage Mystery #1) 🚓 🏡 ⛪ - Book Review

 

MY REVIEW

 

Series: Adairsville Heritage Mystery (Book #1)

Paperback: 237 pages
Publisher: Crosslink Publishing (October 2, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1633573087
ISBN-13: 978-1633573086
⬅️ Click Picture for Purchase Information

“Seven years between them, Kirby and Riley Gordan, nurtured by their pastor father and loving mother, experienced almost ideal childhoods growing up in the Boston area. Then a season of misfortune culminated in the worse of all possible tragedies - the death of their beloved parents.

Four years have passed. Kirby, having failed at marriage and pro-baseball, is now a Florida police detective. He finds himself in little Adairsville, Georgia along with Riley, his law school bound sister. They are there to settle their uncle's massive estate. It is soon apparent that Uncle James's death was no accident. But the worst of it is their names at the top of the suspect list. The siblings are embraced by spunky caretakers, Amos and Carol, whose love, wit, faith, and plain ole horse-sense bolster efforts to solve the murder and put Kirby's life back on track.”

Thank you in advance to the authors, Danny & Wanda Pelfrey, for providing a complimentary review copy. A positive review was not required nor requested and all words are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by the husband and wife writing duo, though they do have other books that have been published. As a fan of Christian Romance, Christian Romantic-Suspense, and Christian Suspense – I was fairly eager to read this book.

This is the first book in the “Adairsville Heritage Mystery” series. It is linked, by a few characters, to the Davis Morgan series. While it isn’t necessary to read those books in order to enjoy this one, this book does give some “spoilers” as to how that series ends. Davis Morgan does not play a significant part in this book, but he isn’t reduced to a cameo appearance either. Those who have read that series or are starting it might want to wait to read this one.

The cover of this book isn’t spectacular and can be considered a bit cluttered. And, while the title font is creative (if not beautiful); it is a bit harsh on the eyes. As I am not an older reader and found it a bit “rough”, I can only imagine how an older reader with vision issues might view it. The picture has a lot to do with a room in the house and not necessarily the plot of the novel.

The readers are introduced to siblings Riley and Kirby who inherited their uncle’s vast fortune and holdings after an “accident”. Featured as much as the siblings; are Amos and Carol Edwards who have been helping the siblings’ uncle James. Their banter and stability are a welcome anchor to this book.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and can be overwhelming for some readers. Most of the characters were pretty likeable, and those who weren’t were definitely noticeable. I did enjoy a few character related moments – my grandpa Edwards did run moonshine, was in the Navy (WWII) as a barber, and my grandmother had a brother named Amos. The Amos in this book is quite the historian which does lead to a lot of information that isn’t central to the plot.

Before chapter one ends, a lot of Kirby’s character is established leaving a small margin for character development as the book progresses. There are times I felt like he was jumping to conclusions about suspects without a full investigation, and that he was usurping the Chief’s position in town. I also felt like he was, at times, too pushy with Connie and moving too fast with questions for her.

The plot was interesting – the death of the siblings uncle. Was it an accident or was it intentional? However some of the plot points used seemed as if it was setting up for future novels in the series or “standalone but connected” books.

The short chapters did make this a fairly quick read, and did seem to move the main plot along without rushing, though there were times it could’ve sped up.

Compared to other books of the genre and other publishers, this was a fairly short read. There were some noticeable punctuation issues along with a typo of a character – I’m fairly certain in one part it meant to read Riley as opposed to Connie. I did have some issues with the more formal speech and certain phrasing, so it took me a while to try to navigate the speech patterns.

The accident scene in the beginning was a bit problematic as there was a transition issue, something that does occur in this book a few times – scene transitions can be a bit confusing. I wasn’t sure if the accident happened before the next scene or some time before.

This had that “Murder: She Wrote”, only with a ton of guest stars, vibe. It definitely seemed like something that should or would be on Hallmark Mysteries & Movies channel. The plot wasn’t overly complex. It remained simple at its core.

I loved the NCIS and Gibbs references. As someone who enjoys watching the series, I thought that was very interesting. Not many people reference it, and I’ve read a LOT of SUSPENSE books with law enforcement types (FBI, CIA, CGIS). I’m currently more of an FBI: Most Wanted person myself. Though there are older shows I love more.   

There are a lot of suspects in this book with, of course, different motives. And, I had my own ideas – wrong as they turned out to be.

The mystery isn’t solved until nearly the end, and the motive was a bit weak for me, I would’ve preferred one of the other two motives/suspects presented. There are some clues in chapter 15 about who it might be. As far as motives, Kirby is right in that money isn’t always a motive. I did like that the authors strayed from the most used motives.

For those who might need a warning – there is a moment when depression and suicide are mentioned. The authors are careful not to use it as a plot device, but more to raise awareness of the impact stemming from it, along with the guilt of those left behind. The reader will see how deeply it affects Kirby. The authors also bring up the subject of alcohol abuse and how it destroys lives – directly and indirectly as well. 

There is a quick mention of “dry counties” and cities. A city in Texas, near where I was born, at the time – was a dry city. For those who don’t know the term – this means that you cannot purchase alcohol.

As this is the first book in the series, it can act as a standalone read. However, I think readers would be interested in the entire series to see what happens to the characters, particularly Kirby. 

There was some excitement towards the end of the book, but it ends on a rather “calm” note.  

Overall, I did enjoy this book. There were a few laughs, interesting pop culture references, with an intriguing start from James’ accident.

With more editing and a relaxed style of speech/writing, this book could easily be a solid 4, if not 5 star read. Some of the dialogue felt more like a report than natural, spoken speech. The writers are definitely into the descriptive and informative side of story-telling. The title comes from something said in chapter 16 rather than referring to the entire plot.

It was, for me a 3.8 star read, which I rounded up to 4.0 as some places don’t do “partial” stars. 

While this is from a small Christian publisher and Christian authors; this book didn’t preach at the reader with biblical values or messages. There were very few references to God, faith, and the bible. It is definitely a clean read – no foul language or sex scenes. It was interesting to see a character question their faith and feel somewhat between atheist and faithful. 

There were some clear messages in this book about judging people, stereotypes, prejudices, and misconceptions about homelessness. One uplifting message was that some things turn out to be what we need to do certain things in life. I felt that these were basic and good messages that anyone should be reminded of.

Fans of the authors or those who’ve read the Davis Morgan series will probably be very interested in this book.

 

RATING:

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads

Bookbub  – NOT YET FEATURED ON BOOKBUB

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Danny and Wanda Pelfrey live in little Adairsville, GA from where they write in a variety of genres, but have the most fun creating mysteries with a message. They are never more happy than when they are spending time with any of their five grandchildren.

 

You can visit their website here: http://www.pelfreybooks.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pelfreyauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwpelfrey

 

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