See Also Proof

Marjorie Trumaine Mystery #3

by Larry D. Sweazy, Nanette Savard (Narrator), Tim Getman (Narrator)

Marjorie Trumaine, a freelance indexer from rural North Dakota in the 1960s, risks her life to help local law enforcement track down a missing, disabled girl.

Dickinson, North Dakota, 1965. It's a harsh winter and freelance indexer Marjorie Trumaine struggles to complete a lengthy index while still mourning the recent loss of her husband, Hank. The bleakness of the weather seems to compound her grief and then she gets more bad news: a neighbor's fourteen-year-old disabled daughter, Tina Rinkerman, has disappeared. Feeling she needs to do something to help the Rinkerman family, Marjorie joins Sheriff Guy Reinhardt in the search for the missing girl. Their investigation quickly leads to a shocking discovery and further complications. Not far from the Rinkerman's house, the body of grocery store manager Nils Jacobsen is found with a bullet in his head.

Despite a looming deadline for the book index, Marjorie is more and more distracted by the disturbing events surrounding the hunt for Tina Rinkerman. Instead of focusing on her work, she follows leads that take her all the way to the Grafton State School, some five hours away. Until recently, Tina had been a resident there. The information she uncovers raises more questions, but it ties together the murder of Nils Jacobsen and the girl's disappearance.

On a treacherous drive home to Dickinson, she becomes aware that someone doesn't want her to return. She fears the person who murdered Nils will not hesitate to silence her, now that she knows an age-old secret.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery

6 pages, Audiobook

First published May 1, 2018

About the author

Larry D. Sweazy (pronounced: Swayzee) is the author of nineteen novels and five series: the Trusty Dawson series (LOST MOUNTAIN PASS, THE BROKEN BOW), WHERE I CAN SEE YOU, a standalone thriller, the Marjorie Trumaine Mystery series (SEE ALSO MURDER, SEE ALSO DECEPTION, SEE ALSO PROOF), the Sonny Burton series (A THOUSAND FALLING CROWS, THE LOST ARE THE LAST TO DIE, WINTER SEEKS OUT THE LONELY), the Lucas Fume Western series (VENGEANCE AT SUNDOWN, ESCAPE TO HANGTOWN), the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series (THE RATTLESNAKE SEASON, THE SCORPION TRAIL, THE BADGER'S REVENGE, THE COUGAR'S PREY, THE COYOTE TRACKER, THE GILA WARS, and THE RETURN OF THE WOLF), and THE DEVIL'S BONES, a standalone mystery.

He won the WWA Spur award for Best Short Fiction in 2005 and for Best Paperback Original in 2013, and the 2011 and 2012 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction for books the Josiah Wolfe series. He was nominated for a Derringer award in 2007, and was a finalist in the Best Books of Indiana literary competition in 2010, and won in 2011 for THE SCORPION TRAIL. In 2013, Larry received the inaugural Elmer Kelton Fiction Book of the Year for THE COYOTE TRACKER, presented by the Academy of Western Artists. He received the Willa Award in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Indiana Authors Award in 2020, both for SEE ALSO PROOF. The Western Fictioneers (WF) awarded THE RETURN OF THE WOLF the Peacemaker Award for Best Western in 2020.

Larry has published over one hundred nonfiction articles and short stories, which have appeared in ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE; THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE: AND 25 OF THE YEAR'S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES!; BOYS' LIFE; HARDBOILED; Amazon Shorts, and several other publications and anthologies. He is also a freelance indexer and written over 1000 indexes since 1998. He lives in Indiana with his wife, Rose, and is hard at work on his next novel.

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marjorie Trumaine is one of my favorite characters in crime fiction reading. She lives on a farm in North Dakota and the time period in the 1960's. She recently became a widow and is trying to live her changed life the best she can. In this book, the reader learned she is in her mid-thirties. She also has a job of indexing books. Her mind is very organized and she uses this to help her solve crimes. She does not have self pity. She moves ahead bravely taking on whatever needs to be done.

She is alone on the farm with her Border Collie. The book showed the harsh weather with blizzards coming in. Marjorie looks out her window at the whiteness and is glad for Hank's security light he put up outside. The Ladies Aid has come calling and wants to recruit her. She has never been a joiner but has been told getting out with people would be good for her.

I noticed while reading this book how comfortable it was to be back with Marjorie and reading about her life. While I like other books, it is special to me when this happens. There was a disappearance of a young teenage girl and the murder of a business man who every one knew all of his life. I really like and enjoy this series due to the location, the mystery, the time period and mainly the character Marjorie Trumaine who is very admirable. This series in in my top two favorite crime reads.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snow covers the Dakotas and features big time in this third book following Marjorie Trumaine in what should be a great opportunity to stay indoors with her dog and get some work done on her latest indexing assignment for a book on bird migration. Farms and towns are a piece down the road, after all, usually a 30-mile drive in her old Studebaker truck that requires 10-minute warm ups before driving. But there are still secrets in the rural community that will feel colder than the snow as a young woman goes missing and a young father is shot near her house.
There will be a showdown after Marjorie untangles the mysteries and she will be there ready with her 22.
Author continues to keep it real to the early 1960's with party-line phones, recipes and secret smoking. Slow pace and sometimes feels like there is only one intelligent person in the county, that being Marjorie.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry D. Sweazy's Marjorie Trumaine series continues to be one of my favorites. In See Also Proof, he uses a chapter of North Dakota history that was swept under the rug (and all other states have similar chapters that they've tried to bury). I also like how Marjorie uses her indexing skills to further her investigation into murder; moreover, readers get to learn more about this little-known skill as the story progresses.

Winter is a major character in this book. One blizzard after another roars through. People have to wear many, many layers of clothing in an attempt to stay warm. It's a fight to keep vehicles running in this brutal weather. And most of all, Marjorie shows us why it's so important to have an emergency kit in your vehicle because the chances of being stranded in a snowbank are very real.

As the investigations into the girl's disappearance and the man's death progress, another important theme of the book is uncovered: how people in these isolated areas come together to help each other in times of grief and of trouble. Once again, Sweazy has created a strong mystery for a stalwart woman to solve, but he's also painted a portrait of community, and that will stay in my mind even longer than the mystery itself.

[Kevintipple · Rating 5 out of 5]

“’Yes. Hank fought a long, battle.”
“He’s in a better place now.”
I forced a blank look to stay on my face and stopped the words that were about to erupt from my mouth. I couldn’t bring myself to accept the idea that the better place Hank was in wasn’t with me. Most people took comfort in the idea that my husband was waiting for me in the afterlife, but my broken faith wouldn’t allow that kind of hope to take seed. My heart had suffered a severe break that had left lingering damage.’” (See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery, Page 79).

It is January, 1965, in North Dakota as See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery begins. Marjorie’s husband, Hank, passed away last October and Marjorie is deep into grief. She still is unable to sleep in the bed she shared with him nor do anything with his clothes. Having been his caregiver for so long she desperately misses the rituals of the chores she had to do to meet his needs. His dog, Shep, a border collie, is now her dog though she realizes he will always really be Hank’s dog. At least it is January and there is not much outdoors on her farm as this is the time of year when humans and animals hunker down and just try to survive the winter. An in home visit with several of the ladies of the “Ladies Aid” reveals she is not alone in a personal family nightmare.

Tina Rinkerman, a fourteen year old teenager with Down syndrome has wandered away from the family farm. Not only was she not dressed for the January weather, her disabilities make her even more vulnerable. Family and neighbors are out searching for her, but that search has been fruitless and was suspended due to nightfall.

The next day, Marjorie assists in the search and is paired with Sheriff Guy Reinhardt. Their hunt for the young teen takes them to a nearby area where members of the family found foot prints in the snow by a fence line very late the night before. After some walking across barren and snow covered fields, Sheriff Reinhardt and Marjoire spot something in a shelterbelt. The stand of cottonwood trees was planted as a wind break by some pioneer decades earlier. Now that shelterbreak holds a car with the body of Niles Jacobsen. He has been murdered as the bullet holes through the windshield clearly indicate. It seems obvious that he was lured out there and executed by someone firing from a deer stand inside the shelterbreak.

In addition to the hunt for the missing teenager, Sheriff Reinhardt and the very small police force of Dickerson, North Dakota now have a murder on their hands. They are going to need Marjorie’s help as they all know she reads a lot and is the smartest person around. Her latest freelance index project needs to wait as Marjorie is going to have to help out. Driven by her natural curiosity and her grief, Marjorie pushes to find out whether the two events are linked and how.

Like all good series, this one that should be read in order starting with See Also Proof, followed by See Also Deception. Readers of this series have known from the start of the inevitability of Hank’s death which ultimately occurred in the second book. His death and Marjorie’s grief is one of the two major storylines in this book. That situation made this read a difficult one for me.

Not because the book is not good. It very much is. Marjorie’s grief and her responses to it hit very close to home. For some reason, I have always felt a deep kinship with the very fictional mid 30s Marjorie Trumaine. I have no idea why as not only am I a mid 50s male and a city boy, I have never lived in North Dakota, and would have been a little over three years old at the time of this book. We have nearly nothing at all in common. Yet, her grief over the loss of her beloved husband so mirrors my own over the loss of my beloved Sandi, the book brought me to tears several times. Not just because, like the fictional Hank, it was Sandi that had faith and optimism and always believed she would survive. Marjorie is also trying to find her way to go on, despite everything, and is having a very difficult struggle with doing so. More than once she expresses how much she misses the routine chores of caregiving as she met Hank’s needs. Those who know me are also very much aware how much I am struggling with my loss as well as how much I miss the routine chores of caregiving with the loss of my wife. Marjorie is trying to go on by focusing on her work as an indexer and I am trying to do as the same by doing reviews and other writing related projects. As it was for Marjorie, my work began as an attempt to bring some sort of income into the household. Her grief, at times, overwhelms her as does mine. There is still more to this shared bond that I can’t even begin to describe. She is as broken in her own way as am I though by the end of the book one gets the sense she is going to be okay.

See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry D. Sweazy continues a very good series. The secondary storyline of the missing girl and the murder are complex and full of surprises. A solidly good book in an excellent series, See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine mystery is well worth your time.

For another take on the book, make sure you go read this review by Lesa Holstine from late last April.




See Also Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery
Larry D. Sweazy
http://www.larrydsweazy.com
Seventh Street Books (Imprint of Prometheus Books)
http://www.seventhstreetbooks.com
May 2018
ISBN# 978-1-63388-279-9
Paperback (eBook format available)
$15.95
251 Pages


My review copy came by way of the Dallas Public Library.



Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

[Viva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Larry D. Sweazy has an amazing talent. The talent to bring to life the daily lives of 1960's housewives in small town North Dakota and the talent to make me love reading about it. Seriously, forget about the mystery, I was engrossed in how interesting Betty Jane Jorgensen's and Mildred Powell's (sample names) humdrum lives were. Lady's Aid Society? Sign me up! Shared telephone line gossip? Sign me up. Uff da!

The mystery part of the book involved two happenings: a missing teen and a dead man. This part took a while to warm up and it wasn't until half the book was over that it started going. And once it started going it seemed over too quickly. It is a pretty short book and I couldn't put it down so I was constantly reading it during the breaks in my own humdrum life.

Overall, I would say this is a great character study and very well written. The writing has an easy flow and is easy to read and follow. The characters are just very well done. There is just one main protagonist, the eponymous Marjorie Trumaine, so the book is very well focused from her POV. I can definitely believe and hope that this North Dakota's Mayberry exists as written.

I got this book as a free ARC.

[Viviane Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marjorie Trumaine is an ordinary woman with an unusual job, that of an Indexer of books. It’s a job that demands a good memory and a high degree of organization and order. All of those gifts have been offset for a few months since her husband Hank passed away. Marjorie lives in Dickinson, North Dakota, a place that is extremely unkind in winter weather but whose residents take it all in stride. They love the area with its farming community and town activities. When things get tough, they all band together and they will certainly be doing this several times as this mystery evolves!
Marjorie’s time right now is divided with her work indexing an Audubon book about birds and joining the local Ladies Aid group, as well as taking care of her farm which is now dormant with winter. It’s an old-fashioned type of community in 1965 comprised of residents of German, Swiss and other northern European heritage. The descriptions of the dishes mentioned in this novel will make each reader drool for sure!
The first mystery involves a missing young girl, Tina Rinkerman, who is mentally challenged and has not been seen in two days. As the weather is viciously cold and snowy, it is believed if she is not found soon she will not survive as she was not wearing a hat or coat when it is believed she disappeared. The men in the town and the local Sheriff set to forming search groups and getting to work to find Tina. They are severely challenged though as it keeps snowing more and more each day.
On one of these trips, Marjorie’s travels with the Sheriff and what they find is a murdered neighbor, Nils. One can feel the shock of the community. Although all are occupied in providing for food etc. for the wake and funeral, Tina is still missing.
No spoilers here but the remainder of the story centers on finding the murderer and finding Tina. The end is ultra-shocking and brings back some distressful realities about how mentally challenged patients were abused in the last half of the 20th Century. Marjorie will be shocked by the identity of the murderer of Nils.
See Also Proof is a fine, fine mystery that progresses slowly but interestingly. It has spunk, humor, suspense and some fascinating qualities about the occupations of the main and minor characters. Nicely and sensitively done, Larry D. Sweazy!!!

[Randy Overbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my reading I have grown to truly appreciate the ability of skillful writers to create such vivid scenes and landscapes that I am transported to their fictional place and time. I sometimes read great authors like William Kent Krueger and C.J. Box as much for their incredible settings as their remarkable stories. Last month I added another favorite to this list when I read See Also Proof by Larry Sweazy. This novel is the third in his Marjorie Tremaine series, but the first I’d read. (It won’t be the last.)
The novels take place in the Dakotas in the early 1960’s, which at first seemed like an unusual time and place to set his stories. But, as I waded into the novel, I found myself engulfed in the world of this lonely, but determined, widow, Marjorie Tremaine, on her farm in the desolate landscape of this land. I found Marjorie a credible and sympathetic character and enjoyed seeing the world of this rural area through her eyes, the author’s penchant for meticulous detail evident in the people, geography and climate. Through Marjorie, Sweazy is able to capture the sense of the time and place in stunning fashion, often in language that is compelling and poetic. Here is one passage I especially liked.
“Night returned right on schedule. There was no such thing as a lingering evening in January. Darkness arrived abruptly, showing up before the clock struck five as if the color black had ownership rights to the world.”
But where Sweazy really hooked me was in his description of the forbidding winter cold of these parts. Even though I was reading See Also Proof in the summer, in the middle of some of the hottest days of the year, I found myself so engrossed in the freezing details of the story, I was actually shivering. His depiction of the winter weather was authentic, dramatic, and provided the perfect setting the cold murder—both literally and figuratively—of his narrative.
Like several other authors I’ve discovered recently, I hadn’t known of Larry Sweezy’s work until I cracked open See Also Proof. Now I ready to jump into the earlier books in this series, and then check out his other two series as well. My reading list is expanding, in a really good way.

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mourning the death of her invalided husband, Marjorie Trumaine waits out a long North Dakota winter with her border collie, Shep, despite the efforts of her pastor and visits from the Ladies Aid group to revive her spirits.
Marjorie resists the efforts of the women to involve her in their church-related work while keeping busy with her part-time job as a freelance book indexer until she learns about a teenage girl with Down Syndrome who has disappeared from home.
After a visit to the girl's home, Marjorie convinces a reluctant Guy Reinhardt, the recently elected sheriff, to let her join him and other volunteers searching for Tina Rinkerman. Accompanying the sheriff in his truck they find, not Tina, but a murdered man. The victim is Nils Jacobson, manager of the local grocery store and husband of one of Marjorie's Ladies Aid friends.
Shaken from her lethargy, Marjorie becomes active with the church women, consoling her friend and, at the same time, utilizing her indexing skills to sort out the gossip and secrets of a small town. Somehow, she reasons, there's a connection between the missing girl and the murder. But what's the motive?
On behalf of Guy, who says she's the only one he can trust, Marjorie undertakes a five-hour drive to the Grafton State School, where Tina has lived most of her life, to pick up reports the sheriff has requested.
An unexpected blizzard provides a harrowing ride back, but the reports unravel secrets, the vital link between the two cases and the killer's motive.
This is the third in a series of Marjorie Trumaine mysteries. Though I haven't yet read the previous two, I have enjoyed several of Sweazy's other novels. If you like a mystery that takes the time to introduce interesting characters, dwell on the nuances of life in a particular time period (the 1960s in this case) and provides a genuine sense of place, then you'll like this novel.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Seventh Street for the free copy to review!

See Also Proof covers many different topics such as love, grief, secrets and a mystery all turned into one. I felt for Marjorie during her times of grief with losing her husband, but despite her troubles she still wanted to help look into the disappearance of Tina Rinkerman and Nils Jacobson's cases. This isn't a gory or risque type of mystery, but it does cover discrimination back in the 1960s towards those with down syndrome. The names they used to use to describe them were hard to read, but I had to keep reminding myself that this takes place in the 60's and that it was different back then. That was the only part of this book that made me uncomfortable. Other than that it was a good mystery and it had an ending that I didn't expect.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would swear I'd read a prepub review of this, saying that Marjorie, a widowed farm owner and indexer, traveled to New York to help save her abrasive, unpleasant editor from a charge of murder. But that's not this book. Marjorie is still in North Dakota (which, fair enough, she loves), battling January blizzards as she helps the sheriff search for a lost girl recently returned home from the state school in Grafton. Instead of the girl, they find the murdered body of a local merchant. Along with others from the Ladies' Aid, she tries to support the dead man's wife, but keeps finding more facts that don't seem to fit. I love this series, although its bleakness and the terrible hardships of the region sometimes make it hard reading.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listening to a whole cast performing this was almost as good as going to see a live live play ... well done.

[Dottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book of the series and so far the best one! You could read this book as a stand alone. By far it draws you in and has you on edge. The ending was suburb. Would recommend.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. This was a stunning third chapter in the Marjorie Trumaine series. This story gripped me down to my bones and I was glued to my headphones. Incredible

[Carl Brookins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marjorie Tremaine, a freelance indexer living just outside Dickinson, North Dakota in 1965 is still mourning the untimely death of her husband. Their dog, Shep offers only limited comfort. The local Ladies Aide visits regularly, in spite of harsh winter weather on this northern prairie, but Marjorie is still struggling with her life and latest assignment.

The unsettling news that a local teen girl has gone missing comes as almost welcome relief to Marjorie. Here’s a local puzzle to help solve. Working with the new county sheriff, out looking for the missing girl in front of a looming snowstorm, she stumbles on a body. The dead man, was well-liked and well-known throughout the county. Thus the author sets up wide possibilities for whom the killer might be. And the murder of this young man on the heels of the girl gone missing adds to the possibilities.

The author is adept at setting up complex situations that capture readers’ attention. His characters feel authentic to the locale and the time. Two elements come to dominate this novel and affect the actions of nearly all the characters most of the time. Weather is the most dominate force in this novel. Snowstorms of blizzard proportions are looming, a part of the immediacy, or just leaving the scene.

The other important element is Marjorie’s old Studebaker truck. It’s a typical farm truck of the era, too much abused with heavy work assignments, too little maintenance owing to lack of funds and always in need of a boost from the block heater. Never completely put off, this reader felt at times he was more intimately involved with the troublesome Studebaker than the main plot. Nevertheless, the truck plays an important role in the success of the story, protecting Marjorie at crucial times.

The author uses the character of the residents, of the land itself, and of the unique relationships between all of them in this engrossing well-written story of a terrible and an uplifting time in the life of North Dakota.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marjorie Trumaine is a freelance indexer living on a farm in North Dakota. She is still grieving the loss of her husband, Hank who suffered a freak accident several years earlier that left him paralyzed. He has recently passed away and Marjorie only leaves the farm to drive to town for necessities. However, three ladies from the local Sewing Circle come to visit on a weekly basis, often encouraging her to join their group. When they arrive on a cold, windy snowy day in the winter, Marjorie learns a young mentally challenged neighbor teenage girl, Tina is missing. Marjorie wants to help with the search and the following day, she arrives at the girls home to bring some soup. There she meets Guy, who has recently won the election for Sheriff beating out the previous Acting Sheriff, Duke. She persuades Guy to let her go with them as they search in some of the nearby fields. There, they discover a body and it isn’t Tina.
With time running out for the young girl, Marjorie tries to make sense of what the murder means. Tina had been a resident of one of the State homes for the Mentally Challenged in a town miles away. Guy reluctantly asks for Marjorie’s help as he isn’t sure who to trust in his office. When Marjorie driving home with the records, Guy requested, on the she is targeted. Who wants to do her harm?
The author gives us another glimpse into the fascination career of indexing.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and looking forward to the next in the series.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our mystery book group read the first book in the series and I was lukewarm because it was not possible, now or in the 1960’s, to care for a paralyzed person at home. It made the book seem improbable and the rest of the story, which required her to leave her helpless husband alone for long periods of time was dreadful. I have experience in this area. Now that her husband has passed away, Marjorie is grieving and her adventures are much more believable (compared to other books in this genre). In fact, I thought this was a very good book. I wondered what was going to happen and when the big reveal comes, it is a shocking story. I really liked the way that the author took a diversion as Marjorie tries to process what she has just learned and there were a couple of times when Marjorie uses her background in the remote and dangerous north country to save herself. Well written and a good story.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weather: See also Blizzard.
Interesting how the weather is almost one of the characters. It plays an important role and the author does an excellent job of evoking the sense of winter winds across the frigid fields. Marjorie doesn’t aim to be comfortable, only to be warm enough to function and not die. Ditto for her truck.

There are many difficult scenes in this book, but just as many poignant ones to balance it out. The author does a nice job showing the various ways community members can help each other out, or not. Marjorie is an amazing character. Thank you, Mr. Sweazy, for creating her.

"The white carpet of snow crunched underneath my feet. The wind slapped at the back of my head, but I ignored the cold. I knew I had won my battle. The weather wasn't going to beat me this time."

[Patricia Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it so much! Partly for the nostalgia: the 1960's, farming, country 'neighbors' ( a close neighbor is a mile away), people helping people through tragedy and happy times. I also appreciated that the author took on a social topic that was once so shameful to give us perspective for our times. The mystery, who killed a man that everyone liked, what was the role of the missing Down's syndrome child in the murder was a smaller part of the book for me, but it was done well. Thanks Larry Sweazy and Good reads for another great read. p.s. Larry, you were so accurate in your description of the time and the places. I am so lucky to have neighbors up at the farm today that are still like these caring people.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this volume of the Marjorie Trumaine series. Marjorie is adjusting to living on the farm alone and is trying to get a little more involved in the community life, like the "Ladies' Aid" group. A local teen with Down Syndrome is missing and the weather is extremely cold and snowy (this is North Dakota in winter!). Marjorie assists in the search and discovers a dead body of another local resident. Is there a connection?

I also like the fact that Marjorie's work-from-home job is working as an indexer for book publishers/authors. You don't see many indexer heroines!

The audiobook is well-done and the voices seem to fit the characters. This is the best kind to listen to because the story flows along and is not too complex when keeping track of events and characters.

[Patricia Bergman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won thie uncorrected reading copy from Goodreads giveaway.

This is my first experience with a Marjorie Trumaine mystery and it will definitely not be my last. The setting is the frozen north of a January in North Dakota. One missing person and one murder has been thrown into the lap of the new Sheriff, Guy Reinhardt. With the assistance of Marjorie, Guy is able to solve this very interesting mystery. I had a hard time putting this one down.

[Kathleen Bianchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darn, I bought all 3 books because I wanted to read them in order and grabbed this one thinking it was number 2. But I loved it. I love the North Dakota phraseology that is used throughout the book. The proper names for the times, 1965, Mongoloid instead of Downs Syndrome. I really hope there is going to be more books coming out with Marjorie Trumaine helping solve murders in her small town. Her logical mind due to her indexing skill is fantastic to watch.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This the latest in the series, occurring in North Dakota in the 1960’s. Trumaine is a book indexer aiding in the search for a missing disabled girl. Instead, a dead store manager is found. I find these books to be very intriguing as work is performed and crimes solved with no modern day technology such as computers and cell phones. Takes me back.

[Janet McEachen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being from Northern BC I could really relate to this book. I also enjoyed the “down to earth” attitude of the main character.
Kudos to the author for his attention to historical detail. I was shocked at the term “mongoloid,” and then remembered that I worked in a hospital where people with Down Syndrome were placed in a lockdown unit. We shouldn’t forget the past, but happily things have changed.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

North Dakota in the mid winter. A no nonsense index making heroine, a disappearance, a murder, all make for a great read. Marjorie Trumaine works through the mystery and her all encompassing grief at the recent death of her husband in this most unusual book.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to read a series of mysteries with an indexer as the main character. I found this final book in the series the most satisfying as a mystery. It also involved indexing more organically than the other two (though I recognized the pressure of index deadlines in all three books!)

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better & better. Great mysteries with unexpected solutions and characters I've come to care for greatly.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly stumbled upon this book and it piqued my interest. It's hard to describe; it's slow paced but I couldn't put it down. It has something different than other books and I really enjoyed it.

[Diana Petty-stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good mystery and interesting info about how books are indexed.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, pretty interesting. Also interesting: the author is an indexer, as is our layperson detective.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 3.5