Past Imperfect: A John McIntire Mystery

John McIntire mysteries #1

by Kathleen Hills

A grizzled Lake Superior fisherman with a massive allergy to bees dies very early one morning alone on his boat. Was he stung to death?

John McIntire, retired from a career in military intelligence and striving to regain a place in his boyhood home after 30 years away, is serving as township constable. He questions the easy verdict. The town of St. Adele has little experience with violent death -- or murder. Nor does McIntire, despite fighting in two world wars. Worse, all the suspects are friends and neighbors, men and women he grew up with "talking Swede." The dead man, last of a Norwegian family who came to raise apples in the struggling rural township sandwiched between the Huron Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the southern shore of Lake Superior, had no real enemies despite his gruff temper. And he had little to leave aside from a heavily mortgaged boat. So, who wanted to kill him?

Saddened by violence striking Utopia, worried his British bride might cut and run, his task complicated by taciturn witnesses and six party telephone lines, the naturally humorous McIntire, while bringing a murderer to justice, struggles to evolve a new perspective on a rural community he has idealized for three decades.

Rich in magnificent landscape, vivid characters stepping from a past both thoroughly Midwestern and multi-ethnic, and a secret-laden story, filled with laughter and warm insights, Past Imperfect offers a new voice of great promise reminiscent of the debuts of Steve Hamilton, A Cold Day in Paradise, and William Kent Krueger, Iron Lake.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Historical Mystery

275 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2002

About the author

Kathleen Hills spent the first forty years of her life in rural northern Minnesota before leaving for the real world and a career in speech and language pathology. After determining that ten years in the real world should be all that is demanded of anyone, she turned to writing. Her first novel, Past Imperfect, is available from Poisoned Pen Press. Kathleen divides her time between her home in Duluth, Minnesota and North Scotland and is currently at work on a third John McIntire mystery.

Reviews

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting characters & mystery. Ending surprised (and saddened) me. Will read author again. TTS-enabled.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mystery with many suspects from which to choose.

[Shawn Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good mystery , what caught my attention was the story is located in the upper penn. of Michigan, although I could not pin point the town of St.Adele on the Michigan map , I understood what the writer was saying because i have been to several locations in the U.P. and the senic views are just as Kathleen Hills describes her her story. I'm ready and waitting for her next story with these same chacters

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this author because the book was free at the time on Amazon. I was delighted to discover that this is a really good writer. She is from Minnesota, too. I wonder that I had not heard of her before. I checked the library and learned that they have all four of her books. I am definitely going to read more in this series.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this while it was free on kindle. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars if I could. I was quite intrigued by the mystery and the setting was an interesting change from the British and Scandinavian mysteries that I usually read (and love!). I will probably try some more of this author's books.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Low-key internal sleuth solved. Interesting common man main character / sleuth, with hints of what he might have done during the 30 years he was away from home (during WW I through WW II)--St. Adele, Michigan (Upper Pennisula). Plenty of characters in the area for future books.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a slow paced book for me. However, I stuck with the book and enjoyed the book more as the pace became a little faster paced. I liked the story-line and the twisting of the plot.