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A Wrench in the Works: A Bristlecone Mystery
Twenty-seven years of murder. Six weeks of retirement. One body in her
own lumber yard.
Josephine Kessler took the pension, packed two duffel bags, and drove up
to a Colorado mountain town to sell the hardware store her uncle left her.
She figured she’d be back in Denver by Christmas.
Ten days later the developer who wanted her land is dead between the
lumber stacks. The padlock on her gate has been cut and dropped in the middle
of the gateway, where the first person through would have to step on it. And
the only man who knows how to run the store is the one half the county
watched threaten the victim on a public sidewalk.
The sheriff has told her, politely and completely, to stay out of it.
He’s right. She’s a civilian now. No badge, no file, no
authority beyond a cash register she can barely work. But Jo spent
twenty-seven years reading people for a living, and a hardware store is
nothing but a record of what a town buys, returns, and never quite gets
around to throwing away.
The answer is in Bristlecone somewhere. It’s in a paper ledger.
It’s on a strip of register tape nobody else thought to read.
And in the back of her uncle’s safe there is a folder with a
girl’s name on it — and thirty years of a good man’s
handwriting, explaining exactly what was wrong with the case nobody ever
solved.
Readers who love small-town mysteries will
A sleuth who actually knows what she’s doing, and knows exactly
what she’s no longer allowed to do
A town of 2,412 people where everybody has an opinion and nobody says
it directly
A slow-burn romance with a sheriff who is very good at his job
A cold case that runs the length of the series
Clean no gore, no swearing, no cliffhanger
A Wrench in the Works is the first Bristlecone Mystery — a
complete, satisfying whodunit you can solve alongside a woman who used to
do this for a living.
own lumber yard.
Josephine Kessler took the pension, packed two duffel bags, and drove up
to a Colorado mountain town to sell the hardware store her uncle left her.
She figured she’d be back in Denver by Christmas.
Ten days later the developer who wanted her land is dead between the
lumber stacks. The padlock on her gate has been cut and dropped in the middle
of the gateway, where the first person through would have to step on it. And
the only man who knows how to run the store is the one half the county
watched threaten the victim on a public sidewalk.
The sheriff has told her, politely and completely, to stay out of it.
He’s right. She’s a civilian now. No badge, no file, no
authority beyond a cash register she can barely work. But Jo spent
twenty-seven years reading people for a living, and a hardware store is
nothing but a record of what a town buys, returns, and never quite gets
around to throwing away.
The answer is in Bristlecone somewhere. It’s in a paper ledger.
It’s on a strip of register tape nobody else thought to read.
And in the back of her uncle’s safe there is a folder with a
girl’s name on it — and thirty years of a good man’s
handwriting, explaining exactly what was wrong with the case nobody ever
solved.
Readers who love small-town mysteries will
A sleuth who actually knows what she’s doing, and knows exactly
what she’s no longer allowed to do
A town of 2,412 people where everybody has an opinion and nobody says
it directly
A slow-burn romance with a sheriff who is very good at his job
A cold case that runs the length of the series
Clean no gore, no swearing, no cliffhanger
A Wrench in the Works is the first Bristlecone Mystery — a
complete, satisfying whodunit you can solve alongside a woman who used to
do this for a living.
169 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 15, 2026
This was a good read! Very different style of writing but it kept me hooked from page 1 . . . really enjoyed the story. So much so that I just ordered the other five books in the series!
October 8, 2026
Intersting
No inherited a hardware store when her uncle died. She retired from her job as a police detective and moved with her dog to the town where the hardware store is located. They find a an who tried to buy the building dead in the yard. It's very interesting how she finds the murder. It's worth reading.
No inherited a hardware store when her uncle died. She retired from her job as a police detective and moved with her dog to the town where the hardware store is located. They find a an who tried to buy the building dead in the yard. It's very interesting how she finds the murder. It's worth reading.
October 13, 2026
I deeply enjoyed this mystery and am anticipating further stories about Bristlecomb. The author does a marvelous job characterizing the general taciturnity of this small town and it's inhabitants, She also explores the transformation of her protagonist, as she morphs from her previous identity as a big city detective into that of a small town proprietor with specialized occupational background.
October 8, 2026
I like the mystery, and the character building. The virtual voice holds it back. I understand it but it would have been higher. I have heard UK virtual voice books that do better. Not sure why. Read the book and instead of listening and I think you will enjoy it.
August 31, 2026
This is a good story. This is a very different style of writing, but I enjoyed reading it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews