What do you think?
Rate this book
Mayfield Mystery #1
Bait & Switch
When Nora Sheldon’s husband is kidnapped while they’re on their honeymoon, all her hopes and plans tumble into a nightmare. Then the FBI comes knocking. Turns out Nora doesn’t know her husband as well as she thought she did, and the feds are equally anxious about Skip’s fate.
Is Skip Sheldon a con man or some kind of Robin Hood or simply misunderstood? And if he really loved her, why did he drag her into this mess?
She’d interrogate and then throttle him herself (and save his kidnappers the trouble) if she could — but she’s not so sure he’s still alive to bear the brunt of her worry.
Nora and her stalwart executive assistant, Clarice, seek refuge on one of Skip’s properties — an abandoned poor farm on the edge of the Dark Divide in Washington State — to wait for a ransom call and entertain obnoxious FBI agents.
Can Nora wriggle through the maze of Skip’s accounts and questionable acquaintances before she falls under suspicion herself? And for what crimes, exactly? She wishes she knew.
Is Skip Sheldon a con man or some kind of Robin Hood or simply misunderstood? And if he really loved her, why did he drag her into this mess?
She’d interrogate and then throttle him herself (and save his kidnappers the trouble) if she could — but she’s not so sure he’s still alive to bear the brunt of her worry.
Nora and her stalwart executive assistant, Clarice, seek refuge on one of Skip’s properties — an abandoned poor farm on the edge of the Dark Divide in Washington State — to wait for a ransom call and entertain obnoxious FBI agents.
Can Nora wriggle through the maze of Skip’s accounts and questionable acquaintances before she falls under suspicion herself? And for what crimes, exactly? She wishes she knew.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 2014
41 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Jerusha Jones
48 books64 followersJerusha Jones lives in a small town in the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. When she grows up, she fully intends to be a feisty old lady. In the meantime, she regularly maxes out her library's lending limit, has happily declared a truce with the clover in the lawn, but is fanatical about sealing up cracks in her old house, armed with a caulking gun. Due to the number of gaps she has yet to locate, however, she has also perfected her big spider shriek.
Jerusha loves wool socks, Pink Lady apples with crunchy peanut butter, scenery of breathtaking grandeur, and weather just cool enough to require a sweater, all of which are plentiful in the Pacific Northwest. She is eternally grateful to have escaped the corporate world with its relentless, mind-numbing meetings and now writes (or doodles or fantasizes or cogitates or stares out the window or whatever you want to call it) full time.
Jerusha loves wool socks, Pink Lady apples with crunchy peanut butter, scenery of breathtaking grandeur, and weather just cool enough to require a sweater, all of which are plentiful in the Pacific Northwest. She is eternally grateful to have escaped the corporate world with its relentless, mind-numbing meetings and now writes (or doodles or fantasizes or cogitates or stares out the window or whatever you want to call it) full time.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 17, 2017
Read this in one sitting. It's a tight story, that is, a few days worth of mystery and suspense and some merriment.
An entertaining and fun read.
An entertaining and fun read.
February 14, 2018
This is a great book 1 in the Mayfield Mystery series. It’s written a little differently from many cozy series in the fact that the crime isn’t solved at the end of the book. It’s a built in cliff hanger and the original new husband is missing and is an embezzler. All 5 books in the series work toward solving this problem.
December 16, 2018
Good Start to Series
PG-13
For teens to adults
No sex
No strong language
Nora's husband disappears on their wedding night from their luxury hotel in Mexico. Soon she is hiding out in a remote lodge, owned by her husband's many holdings, wondering how the simply perfect philanthropist man she married could also be mixed up with the shadiest of characters. Furthermore, is he still alive?
With the help of old and new friends, can she elude the very scary characters who believe she has answers to questions like, "Where's our money?"
Distinct, likeable and varied characters including a group of homeless boys and the man who cares for them, a hermit, a take-charge best friend, and FBI agents who are doing their job the best the can under complicated circumstances.
Recommended.
I'm looking forward to #2 in the series.
PG-13
For teens to adults
No sex
No strong language
Nora's husband disappears on their wedding night from their luxury hotel in Mexico. Soon she is hiding out in a remote lodge, owned by her husband's many holdings, wondering how the simply perfect philanthropist man she married could also be mixed up with the shadiest of characters. Furthermore, is he still alive?
With the help of old and new friends, can she elude the very scary characters who believe she has answers to questions like, "Where's our money?"
Distinct, likeable and varied characters including a group of homeless boys and the man who cares for them, a hermit, a take-charge best friend, and FBI agents who are doing their job the best the can under complicated circumstances.
Recommended.
I'm looking forward to #2 in the series.
June 30, 2022
Remind me not to invite Jerusha Jones to my wedding! What could be worse than finding the love of your life, marrying him, and he disappears on the first day of the honeymoon? Well, Jones is here to tell you that it can get a lot worse! In her novel of mystery and intrigue, Jones weaves a tale of devastating betrayal, the kind few people come back from. Each chapter takes it further and further, making the reader wonder how the main character is going to survive this ordeal.
Jones’ female protagonist, Nora, is a realist with her feet squarely planted on the ground, a refreshing main character! She remains loyal to her husband, recognizing that she has good sense and that something must be behind all the things she discovers in the search for her husband because she doesn’t make emotional decisions, she could not have been conned this badly. Jones knows that no one makes it alone in this world, so Nora has a sidekick that is a hoot; Clarice. She is Nora’s senior who piles her up like in the fifties and has an I am up for anything and her can-do attitude is a life saver.
Finding Skip, discovering why the FBI wants him, and uncovering the truth means that the book is fast-paced, sometimes nerve-racking, and hard to put down. Jones counteracts the seriousness of the plot with a group of male orphans and a gun-toting wild-looking old man who makes moonshine and has a hidden past. You are going to laugh, speculate on how this whole story ends, and want to protect the characters from the bad guys, especially when you can tell who they really are. This is a perfect binge read!
Jones’ female protagonist, Nora, is a realist with her feet squarely planted on the ground, a refreshing main character! She remains loyal to her husband, recognizing that she has good sense and that something must be behind all the things she discovers in the search for her husband because she doesn’t make emotional decisions, she could not have been conned this badly. Jones knows that no one makes it alone in this world, so Nora has a sidekick that is a hoot; Clarice. She is Nora’s senior who piles her up like in the fifties and has an I am up for anything and her can-do attitude is a life saver.
Finding Skip, discovering why the FBI wants him, and uncovering the truth means that the book is fast-paced, sometimes nerve-racking, and hard to put down. Jones counteracts the seriousness of the plot with a group of male orphans and a gun-toting wild-looking old man who makes moonshine and has a hidden past. You are going to laugh, speculate on how this whole story ends, and want to protect the characters from the bad guys, especially when you can tell who they really are. This is a perfect binge read!
July 31, 2015
This series isn't as enjoyable as her Imogene Museum series. Is her husband bad or good? Is he still alive?
December 31, 2016
Intriguing
Different from the imogene museum mysteries so I was a little disappointed but the more I read the more I got caught up in the story
Different from the imogene museum mysteries so I was a little disappointed but the more I read the more I got caught up in the story
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews