New Pictures of an Old Murder: A Highlands Ranch Mystery

by Jonna Turner

Val Atwell - wife of a nearly always-absent minister and mother of five, with two mares named Burt and Ernie; a golden retriever named George; twenty-five acres of rolling prairie in the heart of Highlands Ranch, Colorado; an old ranch house in need of much updating; and an Erma Bombeck sense of humor - finds her idyllic life shattered after the death of her photojournalist sister in a fiery automobile accident. But, three years later as Val begins to pull her life back together, her daughter finds a roll of mud-caked film that was recovered from the crash site and tossed carelessly into a box that was stashed in the basement. When the film is developed, Val's real nightmare begins. Pictures of what look like a fatal accident - or murder! - appear on the prints. Val takes the prints to the police who opt for the fatal accident and make little effort to investigate. Church members and family alike, except for an elderly, southern mentor - thwart Val's attempts to find out the truth about the incident and what it had to do with her sister's death.Val's amateurish, pesky, not-so-subtle investigation launches her directly into the path of a killer - a killer who thinks nothing of another murder, Rocky Mountain style!

228 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2005

Reviews

[Nancy]

Because it was set in Highlands Ranch and sites very close to my home my sister recommend this after she had it on talking books. I wanted to like this book but can’t give it a high rating. Besides plot, character development, believability and dialogue issues the lack of proof reading/editing drove me crazy. Errors in spelling, word selection, tenses and facts were very distracting.

The plot development was too convenient. For example: the protagonist is thrown from her car as it tumbles over and over down a mountainside, struggles for hours in snow and sleet to scale the steep rocky slope and the doctor pats her on the shoulder and sends her home - at least a two hour drive. She’s rescued above Georgetown and the EMTs take her to Vail hospital, not Denver. Other than throwing the famous resort town of Vail into the story why would they go further away from major medical care and home, requiring mountain driving through the Continental Divide and over Vail Pass when they could be to the west Metro area in less time? There were so many similar scenarios that the book came off as very amateurish. If this author continues to write I hope she gets the help she needs to publish a quality product.

[Linnea]

So, granted I only got through 1/4 of this book but after catching 2 editing errors in the first ten pages I kinda didn't want to waste my time on it any more. Though I though it was interesting because I knew all the locations she mentioned, being from Colorado, I wasn't that impressed with it. Plenty other books to waste your time with!

[Ariana]

I love murder mysteries. This story kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would come next. I also pitied the protagonist because not even her family seemed to support her in finding resolve with her sister's death which was actually unintentional murder. But who did it is the rest of the story.