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Ash Lake Mysteries #1
Saints Preserve Us
Winner of the Florida Writer’s Association Royal Palm Award for Best Mystery. Where’s Lorena Alger? This is what everyone in Ash Lake, Florida is asking about their most famous resident…a young girl about to be canonized as a saint, a young girl who hasn’t moved from her grave in over 150 years. Now she is gone, and her grave is now occupied by the fresher corpse of the cemetery caretaker. Great grandniece Ronnie Lord is determined to aid the town sheriff in Lorena’s safe return. She finds it isn’t an easy task when obstacles like a nosy reporter and stubborn relatives get in the way. Meanwhile, as an object of ransom tucked away in a single-wide trailer belonging to two petty thieves, Lorena is in for the adventure of her…well, death. Book One of the Ash Lake Mysteries.
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
21 people are currently reading
197 people want to read
About the author
L.K. Ellwood
7 books10 followersLeigh Ellwood is a multi-published author of romance and the creator of Phaze's award-winning Dareville series. An EPPIE nominee in a former life, she was honored with the 2005 Golden Rose Award for Best Erotica (Dare Me ) and the second place prize for Best Pansexual Erotica by the ERWI (also for Dare Me ). She is proud to make Phaze her primary home for her romantic novels and short stories.
Readers can visit Leigh at www.leighellwood.com.
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Readers can visit Leigh at www.leighellwood.com.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 6, 2011
Normally, I like mysteries connected to religion. From Chesterton's Father Brown to the wonderful works of Father Andrew Greeley or the adventures of Rabbi Small, there's just something in the mixture that usually works for me.
Unfortunately, that was not the case with Saints Preserve Us. First of all, the mystery itself was not particularly well done, with a solution far too obvious for experienced readers. And second, the reason why so many religion-connected mysteries work for me is that the solvers use their knowledge of religion and experience of human nature to come to the bottom of the story. In this case, the main character showed neither, and the religion bits themselves felt preachy and silly.
I must confess I stopped reading at around 100 page mark, and only leafed through to the end to check my solution. I had guessed right, but that was hardly surprising. All in all, a disapppointing book.
Unfortunately, that was not the case with Saints Preserve Us. First of all, the mystery itself was not particularly well done, with a solution far too obvious for experienced readers. And second, the reason why so many religion-connected mysteries work for me is that the solvers use their knowledge of religion and experience of human nature to come to the bottom of the story. In this case, the main character showed neither, and the religion bits themselves felt preachy and silly.
I must confess I stopped reading at around 100 page mark, and only leafed through to the end to check my solution. I had guessed right, but that was hardly surprising. All in all, a disapppointing book.
May 22, 2012
This was an entertaining read and I will try more Ronnie Lord mysteries to see if I really will enjoy more. I am not too fond of church mysteries unless they are really well done, a la the Thurlos' Sister Agatha series, and Margaret Coel's Wind River Reservation mysteries. This one pales a bit in comparison and the execution was a bit cumbersome.
June 27, 2012
This was a fun book, I love mysteries and this was right up my ally. I don't think I've every read a book with a catholic character who wasn't a "tortured" Catholic, this was great. Though not Catholic myself I learned about the Church, yet didn't feel like I was being preached at. The characters were very real and the plot very interesting. I can't wait to read another Ronnie Lord mystery!
July 8, 2017
The Catholic Citizens of Ash Lake Florida are looking forward to the canonization of one of their own when the body of Blessed Lorena Alger is stolen right from her grave! Obviously they want her back and are even willing to pay a ransom, but it turns out to be not that easy, especially as a cemetery worker ends up dead as a result of the theft. I did like the premise of this story but the culprit is obvious and I think the inflated disputes between the Protestant and Catholic residents take away from the enjoyment of the mystery.
December 2, 2012
I was not happy with this book at all for a number of reasons, although I did manage to read the entire thing. The problems were not related to religion--I have read a number of mysteries with very religious characters. In general the religion is natural because it is part of the identity of the protagonist and often plays a role in the mystery itself. This one did get very close to crossing over by getting rather preachy on some points, but not enough to lower the rating significantly.
Unfortunately the issues are far more integral to the writing itself and the handling of the mystery.
First off the book is badly in need of a proper edit. Far too many errors. Then we have the English professor POV with a style I can't find believable. The slash used repeatedly in the opening chapter that should be her POV just made me want to run away screaming. If you are going to tell a story from an English professor perspective, you need to pay attention to these details to maintain suspension of disbelief.
Now I've opened the POV can of worms, so lets go digging. It starts out feeling like a nice solid third person limited. But it quickly has me head hopping all over the place in the middle of scenes and with no indication or warning. It doesn't really end up omniscient either. Just thoroughly inconsistent.
I think the head hopping is part of why I've finished the book with very little sense of Ronnie. I know her religion, profession, and marital state, but have no feeling of her as a person. I quickly learned she was defensive of her religious affiliation, but nothing of what she herself thought or believed about anything. I got little sense of the other characters either. When I have no sense of them, I can't care much about them and what happens to them. Certainly not enough to want to know more or long for a sequel.
Finally. I have a big issue with the mystery itself.The solution relies almost entirely on one clue that is kept completely hidden from the reader. Other parts were also revealed without fair clues. I want the puzzle and the sense of fair play. I want to be solving the crime myself from the clues openly in the story, although not necessarily pointed at with a big blinking arrow. I have to be able to go back afterwards and see what the protagonist saw that I possibly had missed or misinterpreted. That was impossible with this book.
Overall a very dissatisfying read that left me totally uninterested in seeing anything by this author in the future.
Unfortunately the issues are far more integral to the writing itself and the handling of the mystery.
First off the book is badly in need of a proper edit. Far too many errors. Then we have the English professor POV with a style I can't find believable. The slash used repeatedly in the opening chapter that should be her POV just made me want to run away screaming. If you are going to tell a story from an English professor perspective, you need to pay attention to these details to maintain suspension of disbelief.
Now I've opened the POV can of worms, so lets go digging. It starts out feeling like a nice solid third person limited. But it quickly has me head hopping all over the place in the middle of scenes and with no indication or warning. It doesn't really end up omniscient either. Just thoroughly inconsistent.
I think the head hopping is part of why I've finished the book with very little sense of Ronnie. I know her religion, profession, and marital state, but have no feeling of her as a person. I quickly learned she was defensive of her religious affiliation, but nothing of what she herself thought or believed about anything. I got little sense of the other characters either. When I have no sense of them, I can't care much about them and what happens to them. Certainly not enough to want to know more or long for a sequel.
Finally. I have a big issue with the mystery itself.The solution relies almost entirely on one clue that is kept completely hidden from the reader. Other parts were also revealed without fair clues. I want the puzzle and the sense of fair play. I want to be solving the crime myself from the clues openly in the story, although not necessarily pointed at with a big blinking arrow. I have to be able to go back afterwards and see what the protagonist saw that I possibly had missed or misinterpreted. That was impossible with this book.
Overall a very dissatisfying read that left me totally uninterested in seeing anything by this author in the future.
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January 7, 2014Loved it!
I grew up Catholic,so the story was familiar to me, it made me laugh and unfolded just enough to keep me reading till the end! Can't wait to read more Ronnie Lord mysteries.
I grew up Catholic,so the story was familiar to me, it made me laugh and unfolded just enough to keep me reading till the end! Can't wait to read more Ronnie Lord mysteries.
September 11, 2012
This story began very interestingly. The body of a child who has been beatified and is awaiting her canonization to sainthood is stolen for ransom. Not only that, but the body of the caretaker for the cemetery is found dead in the exhumed plot.
Professor Ronnie Lord, Great Great Niece of Blessed Lorena, is alarmed even though she is not completely behind the canonization. Ronnie does care about her Nana and other members of the family.
The police are involved and Professor Lord, a widow of a policeman is pondering a relationship with the main investigator.
This book was awarded the Royal Palm award for Best Mystery Novel in 2003 by the Florida Writer's Association.
Professor Ronnie Lord, Great Great Niece of Blessed Lorena, is alarmed even though she is not completely behind the canonization. Ronnie does care about her Nana and other members of the family.
The police are involved and Professor Lord, a widow of a policeman is pondering a relationship with the main investigator.
This book was awarded the Royal Palm award for Best Mystery Novel in 2003 by the Florida Writer's Association.
July 20, 2013
The body of a young girl being considered for canonization is stolen from a cemetery. The main character is the great-great grandniece of the girl and she is trying to figure out what happened and why the empty grave now has the murdered body of the cemetery caretaker. A little predictable, but an enjoyable read. Because it was a free nook book I did notice some editing mistakes.
October 29, 2013
Was not impressed.
Mystery was not mysterious, characters were not interesting, writing lacked in many, many ways. Was hoping to learn something about Catholicism, but came away feeling I had to wash off the attitude and snoot.
Mystery was not mysterious, characters were not interesting, writing lacked in many, many ways. Was hoping to learn something about Catholicism, but came away feeling I had to wash off the attitude and snoot.
March 19, 2015
Extremely entertaining!
Saints Preserve Us is my first Ronnie Lord mystery. The plot was very creative and reading was easy. I gave it four stars because at times the story was predictable. Still very entertaining and worth reading.
Saints Preserve Us is my first Ronnie Lord mystery. The plot was very creative and reading was easy. I gave it four stars because at times the story was predictable. Still very entertaining and worth reading.
January 10, 2016
Yuck
I never got past the free sample. It appears to be written for young adolescents with little socialization. Definitely NOT my cup of tea. I read Margaret Addison, Elizabeth Edmondson and all of that bunch. Much more mature and enjoyable!
I never got past the free sample. It appears to be written for young adolescents with little socialization. Definitely NOT my cup of tea. I read Margaret Addison, Elizabeth Edmondson and all of that bunch. Much more mature and enjoyable!
February 11, 2012
I enjoyed this book. Its a good read for those who enjoy church mysteries. it was a little predictable, though.
February 27, 2012
I got tired of all the Catholic religion junk. But storyline, plot, characters were good ---ending did surprise me!
July 12, 2012
I felt the religious overtones were too preachy and got in the way of a just about reasonable story
May 23, 2013
An OK read, but I think the overt Catholic propaganda has put me off reading further titles.
May 5, 2014
I got about 10% into this book and found that nothing yet interested me - not the concept, not the setting, not the dialog. I'm glad that I got it for free.
June 16, 2014
This book would have gotten a 4 star rating if the ending had been more realistic. Lord stupidly put herself in harm's way.
June 29, 2015
This was a different kind of cozy. I really enjoyed the subject and I really loved the characters.
Want to read
February 15, 2016she is determined to help the sheriff find her, saints body is not in her grave, sequel pray for us sinners, a ronnie lord mystery bk 1, 246pgs
September 23, 2016
I could not get into this book. I got as far as chapter 2 and had to stop. Just not my kind of story or writing.
owned-to-read
January 1, 2014*downloaded for free on ARE
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews