Sacred Cows

Annie Seymour Mystery #1

by Karen E. Olson

Pulled from her bed by an early morning phone call from her boss, local police reporter Annie Seymour finds herself at a crime scene staring at the naked body of a Yale student. Just the thing her bosses and readers don't want to know about - especially when Annie learns the girl was a student by day and a high priced escort by night.

Stonewalled by her cop boyfriend and tailed by overeager but incompetent cub report Dick Whitfield, Annie stumbles onto a network of corruption that even her own mother seems to be involved in. But Annie isn't the only one investigating - a Frank Sinatra look-alike who used to be the biggest geek in Annie's high school is hot on the trail as well. And to top it all off, New Haven, Connecticut is being infiltrated by a parade of ceramic cows. Pulled off the story by her boss, Annie must discover the truth - before she becomes the next big headline.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Cozy, Suspense

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 19, 2005

About the author

I am the author of the Black Hat Thrillers and the Annie Seymour and Tattoo Shop mystery series. My new book AN INCONVENIENT WIFE, a Modern Tudor Mystery, is a modern retelling of Henry VIII and his wives as a crime novel. The sequel, A DEFIANT WOMAN, will be published in March 2026.

My first book, SACRED COWS, won the Sara Ann Freed Award for best first mystery and my fourth book, SHOT GIRL, was shortlisted for a Shamus Award.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently May is mystery month. I've got a crapload of stripped trade paperbacks from closing down a bookstore years ago, so I figured I'd plow through a couple fluff reads in honor. I got through one. I've been failing on the reading.

This was a fun, easy, no effort read. The mystery wasnt overly mysterious. The end result was one I'd had in my gut for a while. The characters never went very deep. But it was a worthwhile spin for entertainment purposes, with just enough action and humor to keep things moving.

The cows on parade subplot? Sorta useless. But you cant have it all with a mass market.

[Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

While trying to manage her personal life, news reporter Annie Seymour tries to solve the murders of two female Yale students who moonlight as professional escorts. This is the first book in this series, and my first book by this author. Initially, I had a hard time getting into it, but I think that was due to distractions on my part. Once I got into it, I had a hard time putting it down. I like that the author gives you enough clues to figure some stuff out on your own. Other than a bit too much profanity for my taste, I liked this book. The second one is in my to-be-read pile.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, fun but not complicated mystery.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read, full of thrills and spills and laced with humour

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read, set in New Haven.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the condensed version - it was awful but I did finish it👎

[Patrick McMullin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder investigation by a female crime reporter. Loved it.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought this was a good book, not a great book. While it started off good – a murdered Yalie, an escort service, lawyers, cops, city corruption and investment scandal it ended quickly and flat. So many books tie in the murders and romance between the characters to make it light reading. What I did enjoy if you are local to New Haven, CT are references to real businesses, streets, locations and of course NH’s specialty – pizza! The Wooster Street area is well known for its Italian banquet.

Side note:
While the idea of a cow parade is fictitious to New Haven – Catskill, NY boasts Catting Around Catskill and Cairo, NY has the Bears and Butterfly themes. Both fun to enjoy!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly fine mystery. Nothing too twisty turny and great for a one day quick no thought book. It is set in New Haven which is nice as a Connecticut resident. The protagonist is also very into eating pizza which I’m all for. She is a newspaper reporter that gets herself wrapped up in a murder mystery. She’s not as dumb as some other protagonists I’ve read but she’s not exactly smart either. Also, not unlikeable but yet not likeable. The characters in general are one dimensional. It looks like there are other sequels and I’d read another maybe if I needed to have a palate cleanser after a difficult read but I wouldn’t seek it out.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the third in this series and thought it was good enough to read #1. Mistake. The story was convoluted. But worse than the story was Annie the main character. She was a bitter, angry, unpleasant human from page 1 to the end. I’ll skip the rest of the series.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't love this book. I went on vacation and bought a bunch of novels at D.I. This one I felt like the heroine was too rough. I just couldn't relate to her.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I liked this much better than the second in the series as it was much better written, I still found the main character unsympathetic and the supporting characters to be boring.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journalist Annie Seymour is checking out the murder of a Yale student who was also an escort. Along the way her research intersects with a major embezzlement, further murders, and a humungous amount of cows!
The fibreglass cow sculptures are a backdrop to everything that happens, lurking as they are around every corner.
First introduced in Switzerland in 1998 they rapidly spread to cities around the world - I remember being bemused by them in Dublin in 2003.
If you are looking for a fast-moving book “Sacred Cows” is probably not for you, it moves at a fairly glacial pace a lot of the time. And, in fact, that fairly reflects the reality of journalism – you spend a lot of time waiting for someone to contact you, for research to be completed, for something to happen.
Annie has a casual, slightly more than sex, relationship with a detective, Tom, but is attracted to the P.I., Vinnie, who has morphed from a geek in her high school to an Italian hunk!
I enjoyed it but kept getting sidetracked by other books – something that does not happen often. It's an enjoyable read, but not quite good enough to be a great one.
3 Stars.

[Nikki-Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a simple read that kept me on the edge of my seat as a mystery, but not with any aspect of being of thriller. I was hoping it was a single book, but now I’m seeing that there are 4 books to the Annie Seymour series. I was hoping to get some closure with all the aspects of Annie’s life, not just the case - her romance, job, and neighbors. However, so many questions are left unanswered, which I’m sure are covered within the next 3 books.

The imagery throughout the book was minimal, using repetitive descriptions each time the same characters were brought up again, and it was difficult to paint a full picture of the emotions everyone was conveying. Which could be due to the fact that Annie is a blunt introvert and maybe she’s not picking up on every emotion, but it was difficult as a reader to fully understand each interaction.

Spice Level: 0.5/5 —- she makes some spicy comments but they stop as quickly as they start

Also, I’m still very confused about the cows. Is it a New Haven thing that has the Cali girl in me lost? Why the cows? Why the pepperoni cow? 🐄

[Malia Hanks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid mystery, although the plot jumped around a bit. I think the thing I didn’t like the most was Annie, the main character. The aggressive attempt at making her “relatable” just didn’t hit for me. Takeout every night, rude, messy, and couldn’t even do her laundry? And a bit of an alcoholic. I don’t find that amusing in a character at all, just annoying. Not sure if the other books in this series are worth it, but I’ll give them a try

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read Olson's Tattoo Shop mysteries prior to this. I considered them fun but cozy. This is decidedly more hardboiled with a more cynical, more complex main character. I've always liked the idea of a journalist protagonist. Strong pacing and excellent writing. Writing students would do well to study her use of dialogue and action tags, plus the dialogue itself.

[Tyler Firey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the cow subplot happening in the background. Yes, we know there was a murder, but she really teased me by withholding all that good good cow exposition. My second book to ever read in the hospital jail.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sims fast murders with an interesting link between the victims. I liked the mother as a side character but the main characters were all cliché. Annie was just a female version of Sam Spade-drinks hard liquor, swears, and is a slob. The action and occasional humor made it a fun enough read.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the writing and the characters, although the mystery was a bit confusing. i would read more in this series.

[Dorothy Desouzaguedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, although somewhat predictable. Good descriptions of place. More accurate than most stories featuring journalists.

[Alice Neilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute cozy. Just what I needed to get my mind off the Coronavirus. Quick paced, enough twists and turns to keep my interest.

[Martha Fiorentini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant mystery set in New Haven CT. The lead character is a journalist.
Perfect summer reading

[Melanie Wissel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Terry Tschann Skelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this first book of a (hopefully long) series. Good characters, not too bloody, not predictable, but everything fell into place.

[Tracy Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick murder mystery read with a female lead!

[Sercohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple enjoyable light mystery of 2 Yale murders All takes place in very familiar places in New Haven

[Catmom 4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read without to much romance. Focused more on the actual mystery and situation even adding some Cow humor.

[Celia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Female students keep turning up dead, and crime reporter Annie uncovers a conspiracy as she tried to identify their killer. It's a kind of unnecessarily complicated conspiracy, though, and I became bored with Annie's attempt to solve it.

An attractive private investigator is also involved (who used to be the geeky guy at Annie's high school, of course), and Annie falls for him. But she already has a boyfriend! What is a girl to do? Never mind, the boyfriend quickly and conveniently dumps her, with no hard feelings or broken hearts on either side (which makes you wonder why have the relationship there in the first place? I know she needs an inside source, but why not make that source her brother or something?). It was a patently false relationship, and it put me off the character.

I just didn't like Annie that much as a crime solver - her methods irritated me, the way she kept going off and meeting people when they obviously were plotting to kidnap her or kill her - I just wanted her to get a grip and get on with things. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill crime novel, and I wasn't really enthused by it.

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked out 4 books in the library....I know shock, I actually went for a free book instead of massively hemmoraging money in the book store. I went armed with my list from goodreads, all the books I wanna read, and they either don't have the titles, or authors, or they were already checked out. I grabbed on the go, from genres, and this is the only book worth mentioning.
It was actually pretty good, with the main character being some bitchy type journalist after a big story. I didn't get the title until like 3/4 of the way through, as it was an incidental thing throughout the book. That was the biggest complaint. Other than that, it was an okay book, and I'll definitely read more by this author.

[Deane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story but for awhile, I was getting mixed up with Janet Evanovich's characters....the female sleuths in each story have an on-going affair with a policeman or detective while also having some kind of affair with a sexy, hard-to-resist scoundrel of a private investigator who miraculously is always there to rescue her. Even the name 'Vinnie' was disconcerting...it appears in both series; one as a private eye; the other is Stephanie Plum's rather sleazy boss.

It was fun reading about the 'cows' since I have seen some of those 'decorated' animals on display in the US. Fast-moving book with an easy-to-follow plot....will search out #2 in the series.