Hiking Sticks, Hawks, and Homicide: A Riley Creek Mystery

by Mary Lucal

Martha Sloane had no intention of staying in the hard-to-reach village of Riley Creek, Tennessee—until she finds she is the new owner of the struggling Birds ‘n’ Beans shop. Now, in the first of a brand-new series, she learns that running a business can be murder….

When Martha Sloane arrives in Riley Creek following the death of her beloved Aunt Lorna, she naively expects a week to be enough to sort everything out and return to her demanding job in Boston. What she doesn’t expect is to find the dead body of a local ne’er-do-well in her aunt’s backyard!

Buoyed by Riley Creek’s eccentric inhabitants, Martha sets out to learn the Birds ‘n’ Beans biz, enjoy some local hiking and bird watching, and figure out her future. But when police suspect Aunt Lorna of being connected to the murder, Martha launches her own investigation. She’s soon tangled in a web of debt, deceit, and betrayal.

Even with the help of the Riley Creek gang, she’ll have to keep her balance to expose a killer who means business.

Hiking Sticks, Hawks, and Homicide is the first book in the Riley Creek Mystery Series. If you enjoy the outdoors and a quirky, imperfect female sleuth, you're sure to enjoy this series!

265 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2022

About the author

Mary Lucal is happy to be putting her English and Women’s Studies double major to use, creating flawed yet tenacious female sleuths who get a little help from Mother Nature to solve mysteries. A university administrator by day, Mary resides in Tennessee and spends her free time birding, hiking, camping, biking, or gardening.

Reviews

[Angie]

Mary Lucal writes a wonderful debut novel including many of my favorite things: hiking, dog walking, birding, even coffee drinking with some lovely descriptions of roasts and roasting. I relate to how the main character, Martha Sloane, is a familiar face in Riley Creek, and a fish out of water at the same time. I like her determination to understand her aunt as a loving relative, a dear friend and neighbor, a successful business woman, a woman who encouraged others, and even a murder suspect Martha becomes an amateur sleuth to clear. I admire Martha for stepping out of her comfort zone, considering huge life changes, and learning so many new skills that connect her even more to people who care about her and her aunt. The supporting Riley Creek residents are well rounded, diverse, interesting, wise educated educators, and humorous. The villains are menacing and surprising. I want Martha to add knife fighting to her new skill set in case she runs into any more like these. :-) I'm really looking forward to book 2.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucal takes us on a return to small (home*)town Tennessee mystery. Much of the book deals with the midlife struggles of knowing what's important and what is home. She fills the story with all the senses of place and community, but with a brewing mystery. Some moments stretch believability, but that doesn't stop the pages from turning and the story from rolling along.

I found it to be a fast and enjoyable read, well-paced with a few exciting hooks to raise the tension when necessary. By the end I genuinely want to know more. I hope we get to read more.

Four stars "I really liked it".

*not really hometown; more like growing up summer vacation hometown.

[Shelly Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martha Sloane arrives in Riley Creek following the death of her Aunt Lorna, she only expects a week to be enough to sort everything out and return to her job in Boston. What she doesn’t expect is to find the dead body in her aunt’s backyard. But when police suspect Aunt Lorna of being connected to the murder, Martha launches her own investigation. She gets caught up in a web of debt, deceit, and betrayal.  Even with the help of the Riley Creek friends, she’ll have to keep her head to find a killer who is stealthy.
After reading this book I can reflect that it is very well written. Great care was taken into the story detail into this book. The characters are fully developed and vividly alive in the storyline. I particularly love that the Author, Mary Lucal, has no use for vulgar or sexual undertones as well as no foul or crude language. Very wholesome family friendly storyline.
My only concern was towards the end I felt (without giving any spoilers) the aunt’s final days could have been explained in my detail for my opinion. Embellishment or elaboration could have helped to ended storyline. I’m looking forward to additional series of this book and the continued storyline of Martha and the Riley creek crew.
With all that in a concise summary, I really rather throughly enjoyed this book! I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone looking for an adventure/mystery/family fun. 5 star recommended from me!

I was blessed with an ARC of this book in response for my honest review.

[Emily Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who Killed Curtis ? . . .

I enjoyed reading this cozy mystery which held my interest throughout the story line. Full of action, fun characters, and the author’s robust descriptions of the town helped to paint a clear picture for me.

Arriving in the small village of Riley Creek, Tennessee, to settle things after the death of her Aunt Lorna, Martha Sloane was not expecting the discovery of a dead body, later identified as Curtis Sentrich, hidden under a pile of leaves in her aunt’s backyard! So having the police suspecting Aunt Lorna was involved with the murder simply because of her distracted behavior before her death, Martha may start her own investigation! Just knowing the coroner’s early examination showed that the body was only in a slight state of decomposition and probably died 2-3 days ago, and her aunt passed away five days ago, that makes no sense that her aunt could be involved. Will she find out who the killer is before she is put in danger herself?

The town is unique and has some quirky characters that are fun to meet. Will Martha decide to stay in Riley Creek and run the struggling Birds ‘n’ Beans shop that she has inherited? Or will she finish up, sell the business, and return to Boston?

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha Sloan is a workaholics with a fast pace and highly demanding job. She leaves this world to come take care of her Aunt Lorna estate, upon her death. In the process that she figure would only take a week max, she is the owner of Bird's n Beans Shop. Trying to figure this out and she is starting to reconnect with the great outdoors that she has been missing.
During all this self discovery and things she comes across a dead body in her aunt backyard. What she didn't expect was for the local police department to think her beloved Aunt had anything to do with the murder. So now she is on a mission to local the real killer. So she can clear her aunt good name.
Will she be able to clear her name? Will she make the decision to stay or leave?.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot of the extra detail removed me from the main story. I appreciate cozy mysteries because they usually get right to the main problem (death) and spend a few hundred pages solving it. However, I was 30% of the way through and while I knew Curtis was dead, not a lot around his death or suspects had really happened. Also, given the relatively clean nature of cozies, I am not sure about someone like Imbroglio (I don't mind a bit of hard criminal activity, but it might rub some the wrong way.

Unless book 2 is shorter and gets to the point quicker, I can't say I will be reading any more of this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jessica Brimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! Martha Sloane comes to Riley Creek to sort her aunt's belongings after she passed away. When Martha finds a body in Aunt Lorna's backyard, she has to stay longer than expected. Martha will have to use her eagle eye to unravel the mysteries surrounding Aunt Lorna final months and how a body ended up in a pile of leaves. This is a great combination of mystery and bird lovers!

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha Sloane has come back to Riley Creek to settle her late Aunt's estate. She has no intention of staying but as she makes new friends and get involved in a couple of murders she's thinking she might stay. Good book one of the series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great start to the Riley Creek Mystery series, it had everything that I was looking for in a cozy mystery. The characters worked perfectly and the world was interesting. It left me wanting to read more in this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Christina Bowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a pretty good mystery. The characters were likable and made me want to see more of them in future books. The mystery was interesting and kept me wondering what would happen.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the Riley Creek Mysteries.
The author kept me guessing right until the end.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
Recommended to all

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that the characters were memorable. I loved Martha. I think that it was a great storyline. A great setting and great mystery. I was really entertained.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Julie Burnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed the story and the mystery, didn't guess the bad guy at all. Looking forward to book #2

[Trina Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cozy mystery had me guessing right up until the end!

[Terry Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this quick mystery with a TN setting -loved the hiking, birding and coffee references -a little too predictable for my taste, but a fun read.

[Eileen Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy mystery which takes place in north eastern Tennessee. Lots of twist and turns involving numerous characters leads up to a shocker of an ending.