Murder by Death

This one is going to be short.  The book is too long.  Too much stuffing.  If we shaved away all the targets that qualify as 'author's research she must share so her accountant knows those deductions are legit', and then shaved away the overly long descriptive narrative about the places she goes and the scenery, and - I'm sorry - perhaps pared way back on Bridgit the K9's chapters (which to be fair are already short), this book would have some highly entertaining, unusual investigations for the reader to enjoy.  I even didn't mind the back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys.  The scenes in the compound made me edgy and tense, left with that icky feeling I've also always had since learning about religious cults.  This ramped up tension was then offset by the lighter side as Megan proceeded apace with the missing mother and the garage door burglary cases.

So, it was just an ok read, because it was way too overstuffed; done a disservice by a well meaning, but lax editor, but under all that maximum verbosity, there's a good couple of stories in there with strong females characters, strong family values, and of course, the kick ass dog.  I know this author can write much tighter stories; I've read them, so I'll keep an open mind about trying the next one.

(Note: this review might be messy; I was wide awake when I started it and my medications have all kicked in in the last 3-4 minutes, so I'm off to bed.  Any incoherence will be corrected in the next release - hopefully tomorrow.  :D   Night y'all!