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A Loon Lake Mystery #4
Dead Frenzy
Between a fishing tournament and a biker convention, Doc Osborne and Police Chief Ferris are spending less time catching bass and more time catching crooks...
For fishing pals (or are they more than just pals?) Doc Osborne and Police Chief Lew Ferris, Loon Lake, Wisconsin, is usually a great place to seek out some mutual solitude in the trout stream. But lately, the town has been teeming with competitive bass fisherman and bikers, too many less-than-savory characters. Meanwhile, there's an old murder case Doc's bent on solving even as he himself is stalked by a mysterious visitor.
For fishing pals (or are they more than just pals?) Doc Osborne and Police Chief Lew Ferris, Loon Lake, Wisconsin, is usually a great place to seek out some mutual solitude in the trout stream. But lately, the town has been teeming with competitive bass fisherman and bikers, too many less-than-savory characters. Meanwhile, there's an old murder case Doc's bent on solving even as he himself is stalked by a mysterious visitor.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2003
111 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Houston
36 books272 followersShe is the author of the Loon Lake Mystery Series -- DEAD ANGLER, DEAD CREEK, DEAD WATER, DEAD FRENZY, DEAD HOT MAMA, DEAD JITTERBUG, DEAD BOOGIE, DEAD MADONNA, DEAD HOT SHOT, DEAD RENEGADE. DEAD DECEIVER, DEAD TEASE, DEAD INSIDER, DEAD HUSTLER, DEAD RAPUNZEL, DEAD LOUDMOUTH, DEAD SPIDER, DEAD FIREFLY, DEAD BIG DAWG and WOLF HOLLOW in hardcover, trade paperback and as an eBook from Simon & Schuster. The mysteries are set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin against a background of fishing – fly fishing as well as fishing for muskie, bass, bluegill and walleyes.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
July 20, 2022
Dead Frenzy by Victoria Houston is a great fun read. I am not much for fishing or eating fish but I sometimes gets hungry when they cook fish. I also like the fact that we get to know more and more about the main characters for every book. I had some fun when Dr. Osborne was learning to ride a motorcycle for his undercover work...
July 16, 2017
Decent entry in the series.
Kindle Unlimited, read & listen
Kindle Unlimited, read & listen
September 21, 2018
A good mystery with fishing and motorcycles.
August 15, 2014
Doc Osborne does not, in the first chapter, find a body while fishing, as he usually does. What he finds in that first chapter is his daughter, Erin, on his doorstep, distraught over the fact that her husband, Mark, has left her and their three children. What he also finds is that Mark’s actions have triggered a recurrence of an old nightmare that took years of therapy for Erin to subdue.
This nightmare – bloody arms covered in decaying flesh reaching upward in a grasping pose – has a very real source. Those bloody arms were attached to the body of one of Erin’s schoolmates, a body Erin found stuffed in a burlap sack in the woods across the street from their house. The suspected murderer, Jack Schultz, committed suicide before being charged and the police summarily closed the case without further investigation. Doc has always thought that Schultz was railroaded and that the real murderer is still out there.
Doc finds two other items in short order. First is a warm, fresh-baked peach pie left on his deck with no indication of its provenance. Second is the body, albeit alive, of Catherine Plyer Steadman. Catherine is a former receptionist Doc employed years ago when he was first starting his dental practice.
Doc had fired the young woman when he and a telephone company investigator caught her in the act of making obscene phone calls from his office phone. Only seventeen years old at the time, she avoided prosecution, only to get pregnant by and marry one of the richer lads in town. Long since divorced from Parker Steadman, Doc feels that Catherine’s re-appearance in Loon Lake after several decades cannot bode well. Particularly since her ex-husband is sponsoring the million-dollar purse bass fishing tournament to be held in town during the coming weekend.
Other circumstances don’t bode well for Doc or for Chief of Police Lew Ferris either. Parker Steadman’s long-time girl friend has been receiving threatening phone calls and has requested additional security during the tournament (enter Ray Pradt). And Parker’s administrative assistant is none other than Edith Schultz, the oldest daughter of Jack Schultz. It seems Erin’s nightmare is about to become a daymare. Add to all this a motorcycle rally being staged simultaneously with the fishing tournament and a planned DEA sting operation on an Ecstasy mill right up the street. As it has often been said, the plot thickens.
So early into the book, we have a cold case, a high-purse fishing tournament drawing large crowds into a small town, a bike rally drawing even more visitors into that same small town, a drug ring in their back yard, a telephone stalker and a pie-baking, roll-baking, chicken pot pie-making stalker. We have a domestic crisis and a known sociopath returning to the scene of her earlier deviousness. And we have three well fleshed-out main characters, two of which are blessedly middle-aged.
What we don’t have is an author with a good memory or a good beta reading team. And we don’t have an author who does consistent research. And for the first time in four books, we don’t have a quality plot execution.
BE AWARE – SPOILERS FOLLOW!
First are a couple of examples of Houston’s poor memory. For four novels now, the author has stated that Doc is 63 years old. The first novel began the previous summer and it is now July again. In this novel, she states that Doc’s birthday is in June, so that means he just had a birthday, making him 64, not 63. Also, at one point Houston talks about a three-day motorcycle class for Doc, then, several pages later, it is a two-day class.
While these glitches are noticeable, they are relatively small in the grand scheme of things and should have been caught by a good beta reader. However, several of the research errors are glaring. The first occurs when Doc is recounting the story of Erin finding the body in the burlap sack. Erin is 30 years old in this book and the incident occurred 17 years ago, per Houston’s writing. Simple arithmetic, then, makes Erin 13 years old when she finds the body. According to the anecdote, and mentioned several times, Erin is wearing a Brownie Scout uniform. Not at 13 years old she’s not! Brownies graduate to the next level of scouting before they reach 9 years old, always have. I haven’t been in scouting for 50 years and I knew that immediately. Apparently, Google is not on the author’s go-to list for fact checking.
Now, to be fair, Houston did a fine job on her research about Harleys and the riders’ organizations, bike accessories and clothing. And it is clear that she has stepped foot on an RV sales lot or in someone’s coach at least once in her life. But, apparently, she has not seen a 40-foot coach in actual operation or she would not have tried to place the one in her novel on a narrow back road in a wooded clearing near a creek. Turn radius, swing room, coach height and boon-docking appear to be subjects Houston knows little about and did not research. Since I have lived in, full-time, and have been driving a 40-foot bus-style coach for the last eleven years, I have an in-your-face familiarity with the situation. All I could do when Houston started describing the coach and its environs was to put my head in my hands and groan.
But the poor plot execution was the biggest disappointment for me. Unlike the way she crafted the first three books in the series, this novel feels unfocused and out of sync. She seems to have boxed her convoluted plotline and sub-plots into a corner and then didn’t have either the time prior to deadline, or the incentive, to re-write the resolution. So, it appears that she wrote the last chapter as a type of epilogue to tie together the rough edges. Nevertheless, I have read the last scene of the book at least three times and the last two lines of the book still don’t make any sense. It makes me wonder what was cut out to deal with word count.
To be specific on the issue, as the main conflict rages, the main protagonists find themselves caged in a cold storage shed, locked from the outside – again, twice in two consecutive books. Secondly, as the final crisis plays out, Lew’s gun action from the dock is accurate but the physics involved with the boats is not.
And the part about Erin’s husband, Mark, withdrawing $20K from savings to buy a motorcycle is, on the surface, realistic to the going price of a Harley at the time, a price that was clearly stated in the novel. However, he didn’t withdraw the money until after he had made a deal to purchase the bike from another source for only $5K, so there would be no need to withdraw the extra. Not only that, Mark’s character is that of a former DA; he is not a stupid man. And even if he is going through a mid-life crisis, he would know, from his previous occupation, that such a deal springs from an illegal source. Also, he would never have withdrawn savings; he would have taken a personal loan with the savings account as collateral. It appears this hodgepodge was written to be part of the dramatic family crisis Doc was caught up in, but it rings false.
The coup de grace in poor plot execution, however, was the intimate scene that took place between Doc and Lew. Now, Houston has been building up the romantic tension through three previous books. And what we get for all that buildup is – Wait for it! – two paragraphs containing an out-of-the-blue offer from Lew while they are out fishing. I realize that this is a cozy, not a romantic suspense and that a sexual encounter would be more implied than described. But we don’t get any hand-holding; we don’t get any sweet nothings spoken; we don’t get any soft expressions or heated glances. We don’t even get a first kiss! Oh. Come. On!
This nightmare – bloody arms covered in decaying flesh reaching upward in a grasping pose – has a very real source. Those bloody arms were attached to the body of one of Erin’s schoolmates, a body Erin found stuffed in a burlap sack in the woods across the street from their house. The suspected murderer, Jack Schultz, committed suicide before being charged and the police summarily closed the case without further investigation. Doc has always thought that Schultz was railroaded and that the real murderer is still out there.
Doc finds two other items in short order. First is a warm, fresh-baked peach pie left on his deck with no indication of its provenance. Second is the body, albeit alive, of Catherine Plyer Steadman. Catherine is a former receptionist Doc employed years ago when he was first starting his dental practice.
Doc had fired the young woman when he and a telephone company investigator caught her in the act of making obscene phone calls from his office phone. Only seventeen years old at the time, she avoided prosecution, only to get pregnant by and marry one of the richer lads in town. Long since divorced from Parker Steadman, Doc feels that Catherine’s re-appearance in Loon Lake after several decades cannot bode well. Particularly since her ex-husband is sponsoring the million-dollar purse bass fishing tournament to be held in town during the coming weekend.
Other circumstances don’t bode well for Doc or for Chief of Police Lew Ferris either. Parker Steadman’s long-time girl friend has been receiving threatening phone calls and has requested additional security during the tournament (enter Ray Pradt). And Parker’s administrative assistant is none other than Edith Schultz, the oldest daughter of Jack Schultz. It seems Erin’s nightmare is about to become a daymare. Add to all this a motorcycle rally being staged simultaneously with the fishing tournament and a planned DEA sting operation on an Ecstasy mill right up the street. As it has often been said, the plot thickens.
So early into the book, we have a cold case, a high-purse fishing tournament drawing large crowds into a small town, a bike rally drawing even more visitors into that same small town, a drug ring in their back yard, a telephone stalker and a pie-baking, roll-baking, chicken pot pie-making stalker. We have a domestic crisis and a known sociopath returning to the scene of her earlier deviousness. And we have three well fleshed-out main characters, two of which are blessedly middle-aged.
What we don’t have is an author with a good memory or a good beta reading team. And we don’t have an author who does consistent research. And for the first time in four books, we don’t have a quality plot execution.
BE AWARE – SPOILERS FOLLOW!
First are a couple of examples of Houston’s poor memory. For four novels now, the author has stated that Doc is 63 years old. The first novel began the previous summer and it is now July again. In this novel, she states that Doc’s birthday is in June, so that means he just had a birthday, making him 64, not 63. Also, at one point Houston talks about a three-day motorcycle class for Doc, then, several pages later, it is a two-day class.
While these glitches are noticeable, they are relatively small in the grand scheme of things and should have been caught by a good beta reader. However, several of the research errors are glaring. The first occurs when Doc is recounting the story of Erin finding the body in the burlap sack. Erin is 30 years old in this book and the incident occurred 17 years ago, per Houston’s writing. Simple arithmetic, then, makes Erin 13 years old when she finds the body. According to the anecdote, and mentioned several times, Erin is wearing a Brownie Scout uniform. Not at 13 years old she’s not! Brownies graduate to the next level of scouting before they reach 9 years old, always have. I haven’t been in scouting for 50 years and I knew that immediately. Apparently, Google is not on the author’s go-to list for fact checking.
Now, to be fair, Houston did a fine job on her research about Harleys and the riders’ organizations, bike accessories and clothing. And it is clear that she has stepped foot on an RV sales lot or in someone’s coach at least once in her life. But, apparently, she has not seen a 40-foot coach in actual operation or she would not have tried to place the one in her novel on a narrow back road in a wooded clearing near a creek. Turn radius, swing room, coach height and boon-docking appear to be subjects Houston knows little about and did not research. Since I have lived in, full-time, and have been driving a 40-foot bus-style coach for the last eleven years, I have an in-your-face familiarity with the situation. All I could do when Houston started describing the coach and its environs was to put my head in my hands and groan.
But the poor plot execution was the biggest disappointment for me. Unlike the way she crafted the first three books in the series, this novel feels unfocused and out of sync. She seems to have boxed her convoluted plotline and sub-plots into a corner and then didn’t have either the time prior to deadline, or the incentive, to re-write the resolution. So, it appears that she wrote the last chapter as a type of epilogue to tie together the rough edges. Nevertheless, I have read the last scene of the book at least three times and the last two lines of the book still don’t make any sense. It makes me wonder what was cut out to deal with word count.
To be specific on the issue, as the main conflict rages, the main protagonists find themselves caged in a cold storage shed, locked from the outside – again, twice in two consecutive books. Secondly, as the final crisis plays out, Lew’s gun action from the dock is accurate but the physics involved with the boats is not.
And the part about Erin’s husband, Mark, withdrawing $20K from savings to buy a motorcycle is, on the surface, realistic to the going price of a Harley at the time, a price that was clearly stated in the novel. However, he didn’t withdraw the money until after he had made a deal to purchase the bike from another source for only $5K, so there would be no need to withdraw the extra. Not only that, Mark’s character is that of a former DA; he is not a stupid man. And even if he is going through a mid-life crisis, he would know, from his previous occupation, that such a deal springs from an illegal source. Also, he would never have withdrawn savings; he would have taken a personal loan with the savings account as collateral. It appears this hodgepodge was written to be part of the dramatic family crisis Doc was caught up in, but it rings false.
The coup de grace in poor plot execution, however, was the intimate scene that took place between Doc and Lew. Now, Houston has been building up the romantic tension through three previous books. And what we get for all that buildup is – Wait for it! – two paragraphs containing an out-of-the-blue offer from Lew while they are out fishing. I realize that this is a cozy, not a romantic suspense and that a sexual encounter would be more implied than described. But we don’t get any hand-holding; we don’t get any sweet nothings spoken; we don’t get any soft expressions or heated glances. We don’t even get a first kiss! Oh. Come. On!
July 18, 2018
So far I have read about one third of the series. I got these books for free on my kindle through the public library, which is nice. It is a pleasant enough series. I have been living in WI for a while and the setting adds to the fun. I like also that there are 18 books in the series. I am an avid and quick reader and it is nice to know I will not run out of the books anytime soon.
Now for the three stars only:
1) if you are looking for a challenging series, where you have to sweat a bit to figure out who the culprit is, forget about it. A fifth into the book you will know who did it and why. Quite disappointing.
2)is is quite unrealistic to have so m any murders in such a small Wisconsin Northern town, but that is a very common issue for many fictional crime stories. Midsommer County, Murder She Wrote, you name it...
3) even more unrealistic is that so many locals (remember this is a rural and small community from northern WI) have attended Marquette or Northwestern, and did so without being overwhelmed with students debt. I suspect the writer is not up to date with admission rate and tuitions.
4) some other naive details. For example in one of the books a cell phone is retrieved from a body of water. It doesn't occur to anyone to use an desiccator until one of the characters comes up with a "secret trick": rice. Really?
5)Finally, some details about characters back stories seems to be copied verbatim by other bools. Although this probably helps if you read the books out of order, if you actually read them all it gets quite repetitive.
Now for the three stars only:
1) if you are looking for a challenging series, where you have to sweat a bit to figure out who the culprit is, forget about it. A fifth into the book you will know who did it and why. Quite disappointing.
2)is is quite unrealistic to have so m any murders in such a small Wisconsin Northern town, but that is a very common issue for many fictional crime stories. Midsommer County, Murder She Wrote, you name it...
3) even more unrealistic is that so many locals (remember this is a rural and small community from northern WI) have attended Marquette or Northwestern, and did so without being overwhelmed with students debt. I suspect the writer is not up to date with admission rate and tuitions.
4) some other naive details. For example in one of the books a cell phone is retrieved from a body of water. It doesn't occur to anyone to use an desiccator until one of the characters comes up with a "secret trick": rice. Really?
5)Finally, some details about characters back stories seems to be copied verbatim by other bools. Although this probably helps if you read the books out of order, if you actually read them all it gets quite repetitive.
January 27, 2021
I enjoy these mysteries set in the Wisconsin northwoods. This time Chief Lew and Osborne are trying to stop a motorcycle chop shop and drug ring that are currently shipping items into the area from Canada. During the height of the investigation there is going to be a huge televised fishing tournament as well as a motorcycle rally in town. A side investigation involves a murder 20 years earlier that Osborne believes the wrong man was accused and he attempts to clear his name.
A little too much going on in this novel. One of these two stories would have been enough. They were tied together in the end but I felt it just muddled it a bit.
A little too much going on in this novel. One of these two stories would have been enough. They were tied together in the end but I felt it just muddled it a bit.
April 3, 2025
This series got off to a great start - the characters were likeable, the settings were enjoyable, the circumstances were believable. But as I read more and more of the series, little things started bugging me - time had passed, but characters didn't age... tiny stuff like that - It was almost as if Victoria Houston had contracted other writers to keep the stories going, and they didn't do their homework... or follow the style book... As I was reading these recovering from an illness, I was reading them one right after the other, so those inconsistencies would be more apparent....just my two cents.
June 15, 2018
There is never a dull moment around Loon Lake. The town of 3,000 is expecting around 50, 000 visitors at the fishing tournament, in addition to a motorcycle rally. Ray is trying to set himself up in a television fishing program, Ray's Fish 'n Fry.
In the meantime, Doc finally gets closer to Lew and learns to ride a Harley in order to help Lew take down drug dealers and a bike parts theft ring. Will he get his own bike? :) He hates to give up his borrowed HOG.
In the meantime, Doc finally gets closer to Lew and learns to ride a Harley in order to help Lew take down drug dealers and a bike parts theft ring. Will he get his own bike? :) He hates to give up his borrowed HOG.
June 19, 2018
I enjoyed this sequel! There was a lot going on, but it was fun to see how Houston brought it all together and intertwined crimes and criminals without making it too overwhelming. Always impressed with the characters and settings. It's so much fun to read about a part of Wisconsin I now live in; and she does such a great job brining the characters to life without making them a trope. I look forward to continue reading this series!
May 14, 2017
I greatly enjoy the characters is this series. Lew, Doc, and Ray seem like old friends whom I enjoy visiting with as I read each book in the series. I spent a couple of years living near the Wisconsin boarder, and Loon Lake reminds me of many of these towns.
I am intentially spacing these books out, to spread the joy over a longer timeframe.
I am intentially spacing these books out, to spread the joy over a longer timeframe.
January 30, 2019
The repetition in these books is beginning to get tiresome. Each chapter has some quote about fishing. Not only are these quotes repeated in several books, but sometimes multiple times in a book. There are also details in the books that were clearly copied and pasted from one manuscript to the next.
September 25, 2017
Stumbled across this book and thoroughly enjoyed the setting (on a lake) and the characters: Doc, a retired dentist; Lewellyn, the chief of police in this small town; Ray, the aging hippy with a heart; etc.
November 12, 2017
This series has been offered free on Kindle so I thought I would read it again after a decade. I am once again in love with these characters. The plots are unique. The fishing narrative is enlightening. There are some newer episodes coming that I look forward to reading.
November 18, 2019
Much more complex in character and plot than earlier stories, featured HOGs and fishing tourneys with a very accurate eye. Plot got a bit convoluted with familial relationships an important part of the puzzle.
February 21, 2021
So far, the best of the series.
The last book the plot was a mile wide and and an inch deep. This book was fantastic. Plot twists, multiple murders, wow.
I read these because I love the characters, I love plots and I love fishing.
The last book the plot was a mile wide and and an inch deep. This book was fantastic. Plot twists, multiple murders, wow.
I read these because I love the characters, I love plots and I love fishing.
March 19, 2023
Another book in the series. This was one was good, even a little more complex than earlier ones. I have come to admire Doc’ s philosophy of life- he always tries to approach everything with gratitude and humor.
April 25, 2023
A frenzy of activity in Loon Lake bringing thousands of visitors to the area for a million dollar fishing tournament and a biker convention with drugs and many characters with evil intent. Can police chief Lew with little help keep the public safe.
January 11, 2025
I love this series by Victoria Houston. I live in Wisconsin so I love reading about the Northwoods. She writes about towns that I have visited on vacations with my family. She mentions Stevens Point where I am from and all the little towns in between. On to her next mystery thriller!
October 25, 2017
A most excellent 5 star read!
March 25, 2018
Wow. There was a lot going on in this book. The main characters are endearing and relatable, as usual, but the storyline wasn’t my favorite.
July 28, 2018
A bit more complicated and at times convoluted than first three in series, but still entertaining, particularly with all the Northwoods references.
November 14, 2019
Best one in the series so far. Love the characters and the storyline.
January 21, 2021
Good series, easy reading, like the characters...I’ll keep reading the series for a few more books...
September 6, 2021
I'm not a fishing fan so that aspect of the plot is lost on me. The villains were, shall we say, a bit obvious. Otherwise an enjoyable read that was enhanced by the location in Northern Wisconsin.
September 8, 2022
Suspenseful
Loved this adventure and investigation into another crime and humor. Can't put it down. Can't wait to read the next book. Wisconsin story in the North woods is tops.
Loved this adventure and investigation into another crime and humor. Can't put it down. Can't wait to read the next book. Wisconsin story in the North woods is tops.
October 2, 2024
enjoying the series, another great story...
February 4, 2025
Lots of activity and confusion. I still like the characters and the locale, but this story not so much.
February 8, 2025
Fishing for sport, money and murder.
Sport fishing tournament, motorcycle rally all happening at the same time in little Loon Lake. What could possibly go wrong??
Sport fishing tournament, motorcycle rally all happening at the same time in little Loon Lake. What could possibly go wrong??
September 4, 2024
A biker convention and fishing tournament are coming to the small WI town of Loon Lake. Retired dentist, Dr. Osbourne is pulled into help investigate some odd characters and happenings around the town by the Chief of Police, Lewellyn "Lew" Ferris. The offenses range from drugs to unsolved murder.
I wanted to like this book so much. And living in WI, I enjoyed the up north and familiar feelings it gave me. But there were too many parts and subplot included to truly enjoy the story. I didn't read any of the previous books in the series, so that was definitely a hard start to the book to not have any background to the characters. I see the potential in this author and would be curious to see if the pieces come together more later on in the series.
I wanted to like this book so much. And living in WI, I enjoyed the up north and familiar feelings it gave me. But there were too many parts and subplot included to truly enjoy the story. I didn't read any of the previous books in the series, so that was definitely a hard start to the book to not have any background to the characters. I see the potential in this author and would be curious to see if the pieces come together more later on in the series.
December 28, 2008
The Fourth book in the Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series.
Once again chief of police Lewellyn "Lew" Ferris and retired dentist Dr. Paul Osbourne find themselves wrapped up in a mystery. The little town of Loon Lake has both a Harley motorcycle convention and a high stakes fishing contest with a million dollar purse. Add to that mix a DEA drug investigation (Lew ends up on the task force when Paul and her discover a woman overdosed on drugs in a car) and Paul going undercover as a new Harley owner. Quite a bit going on!
Enjoyable books. Perfect reading for "up at the cabin".
Once again chief of police Lewellyn "Lew" Ferris and retired dentist Dr. Paul Osbourne find themselves wrapped up in a mystery. The little town of Loon Lake has both a Harley motorcycle convention and a high stakes fishing contest with a million dollar purse. Add to that mix a DEA drug investigation (Lew ends up on the task force when Paul and her discover a woman overdosed on drugs in a car) and Paul going undercover as a new Harley owner. Quite a bit going on!
Enjoyable books. Perfect reading for "up at the cabin".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews