Stone Cold Blooded

A Rock Shop Mystery #3

by Catherine Dilts

When rock shop owner Morgan Iverson’s reclusive neighbor is blown to bits, she doesn’t believe his violent demise was accidental. Her hunt for clues collides with an invasion of alien hunters, and the heated campaign for a small town city council seat.
In book three of the Rock Shop Mystery series, a Triceratops brow horn may hold the key to solving a prospector’s Stone Cold Blooded death.

335 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2016

About the author

Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rose Creek and the Rock Shop mystery series, and several installments in various Annie’s Fiction series, for a total of twelve traditionally published novels. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the Pikes Peak Writers anthology. After a career in environmental compliance for a global corporation, Catherine now gets to write fiction full time. Most of her published works have a cozy mystery flavor. She is stepping into Indy publishing this year with her co-author daughter Merida Bass and the YA science fiction Tapestry Tales series.
https://www.catherinedilts.com/

Reviews

[Mark Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morgan Iverson’s neighbor, a recluse, goes out in a blaze of explosions. The police think he fell victim to one of his own traps, but Morgan isn’t convinced, especially since she heard yelling right before the explosions started. Meanwhile, there are strange little creatures running around the area now, and people are congregating because rumor says they are aliens. What in the world is going on?

I love Morgan and the other characters who populate this series, so I was happy to be able to revisit them. There are a number of sub-plots, and they tend to dominate early on in the book, but that is typical for the series and since I love the characters I don’t care. The mystery is strong, especially as it takes over in the second half of the book, and I was surprised by some of the twists and turns along the way.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[L.C. Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cozy, humorous story has it all—a murder to be solved, a cast full of likeable characters, and even a bunch of small, mysterious white creatures. Naked leprechauns? Aliens? And what does a triceratops have to do with the story’s events?
The story begins with Morgan Iverson at the shooting range. She, along with the help of her friends, is learning how to fire a rifle. They hear a great explosion coming from further up the hill from where her rock shop sits. This explosion is followed by shouting and more gunshots. Her neighbor, the recluse Eustace Day has been killed. The police insist that he was the victim of his own booby traps. But his granddaughter insists it was murder. Morgan, along with the help of her newspaper reporter who is running for city office, Kurt Willard, decides to tackle the case.
The mystery takes a back seat until about the middle of the book, but is always present. Then the twist and turns come, surprising the reader. In the meantime, the reader is engaged in the lives of Morgan and her family and friends. They are such fascinating characters, that I didn’t mind waiting for the mystery to be solved.
Dilts’ easy flowing style makes for an easy and fast read. It’s a book to definitely enjoy. I know this is the third in the series, and I plan to buy the first two. Yes, the book is that entertaining.

[Ian Schlechter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the small town feel of this book, but couldn't stand the things the author was saying about other religions that aren't Christian.