Dead In The Hay

Amanda Hazard Mystery #7

by Connie Feddersen

Savvy CPA and amateur sleuth Amanda Hazard is just settling into amateur married life when she's jolted back to reality by a call from her richest and least favorite client, Harvey Renshaw. But when Amanda drives out to his ranch to meet with Harvey, she finds the crank codger lying boots down under a ton of hay. Convinced that his death is no freak framing accident, Amanda starts investigating -- suspecting everyone from Harvey's four ex-wives to a local supplier he stiffed. And it doesn't take long before Amanda finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a case that could leave her the prime target for a vindictive killer gone haywire

Genres: Mystery

253 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

aka Connie Drake, Debra Falcon, Carol Finch, Gina Robins

Connie Feddersen is one of romance and mystery's most prolific and versatile authors. With over 8 million copies of her brooks in print, she has received 8 awards and 19 nominations for outstanding achievement from Romantic Times Magazine. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America and Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame.

Connie is well known for her fast-paced adventures, sparkling humor and lively dialogue. She is the best-selling author of historical and contemporary romance, as well as mystery and suspense. Writing under 5 pen names-Carol Finch, Gina Robins, Connie Drake, Debra Falcon and Connie Feddersen-she has penned 57 books for Zebra and Pinnacle Publishers.

Connie and her husband have 3 children and raise cattle and wheat on their ranch near Union City, Oklahoma.

Reviews

[Bert · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I pick up a cozy mystery I do not expect it to be a beautiful tale full of fine ideas about equality for all. That's cool. But honestly, if the author spends a bunch of words near the start telling me how much of a feminist their protagonist is and how she can't abide sexism, maybe that should actually be a real character trait she has? But, you know, I read a lot of these things. I can forgive a heroine who thinks being unable to cook makes her a bad wife/human being, and I can forgive a heroine who marries a possessive douchebag who actively thinks of her as a sexy trophy he's won the right to put behind glass. There are a lot of other dumb things I'll forgive because I just want to read about a murder which is themed with longstitch/ostrich farming/vanilla crullers/etc., too. What I can't really forgive is that in this particular book (it may differ for others in the series as this is the only one I've read) the constant judgement and recrimination towards the female characters for the way they look, dress and behave (especially sexually but not exclusively) actually gets in the way of the plot. It becomes hard to tell what of this judgement is relevant to the plot (actually as it turns out NONE OF IT so what a waste of ink) and not in an "ooo gosh how do I tell whodunnit" way, but more like "is this related to the plot or just another rant about ladies with big boobs in tight shirts". In the end, the resolution comes out of nowhere because we spent most of the book musing on how much makeup the victim's ex-wives wore. This is, however, an older book (1999) and the author is primarily a romance novelist so whatever.

Anyway, I think the actual mystery was not so much weak in concept as poorly laid out in execution. The author doesn't drop the right information that the reader needs to solve the mystery (I thought quite early "Harvey's brother is probably still alive and involved" but the narrative never gave anything about or spent any time on the brother, even as sly little hints, such that the idea seemed to be killed and by the end even if you still thought Harold as the killer was an option, you were more likely to be annoyed at being right than pleased) and a cozy is never going to offer real thriller suspense as a substitute. The characters are probably more likeable if you've gotten to know them in the previous six books. Taking this book alone, Hazard seemed inconsistent and most others seemed annoying. As a whole it definitely feels like one of those entries late in a series where the mystery theme has gotten strained (by the setting, by the characters, by the author's imagination for this series, whatever) and readers are really just along to see what's happening in the characters' lives. Maybe accurate since it seems there was only more before the series was shelved.