Charlotte Hinger

A book of citizen reminiscences about their families and small Kansas town leads to murder. When town historian Lottie Albright manages to get herself deputized, the killer turns attention to her. The answer lies in the past, but Lottie must puzzle this out before she ends up dead herself. I find it difficult to believe Lottie was deputized so quickly without law enforcement training. It kind of reminds me of some episodes of Andy Griffith where Andy deputizes a citizen when Barney is out of town. Lottie's more intelligent than Barney, but she makes all the mistakes of amateur sleuths. Still this was an entertaining read, even if some parts lacked believability.… (altro)

Holy smoke! Honestly I couldn't get past the idea of a woman who is a historian deciding that she wants to be a law enforcement officer in order to snoop around part-time into a murder, needing nothing more than to go buy herself a gun and a uniform and get the Sheriff to hand her a badge. She doesn't like guns and doesn't know if she would ever be able to actually kill another person. She doesn't even tell her husband that she's done it (because she knows he won't like it) until she comes home lugging a box of newly purchased gear!!! Good thing she didn't have to pass a pre-hire psych eval. I'm pretty sure even the much-derided "Mall Cop" security guard gets more training than this.… (altro)

It's been too long since Charlotte Hinger's last Lottie Albright mystery. She is so adept at combining fascinating Kansas history with her mysteries that I never want to miss reading a single one. Only one thing prevented Fractured Families from being one of my best reads of the year: the killer was so obvious and over-the-top to me. Fortunately, there is much more to the book than whodunit-- and I loved the rest.

Carleton County-- dubbed by one character as "the Bermuda Triangle for crime"-- can be counted as a character in Hinger's books. The weather usually makes its presence felt, this time as a ground blizzard that will have you reaching for extra blankets and thinking about the thermostat as you turn the pages.

Two characters (besides Kansas) were stand-outs for me: Franklin Slocum, the young boy who wrote the commonplace book, and Aunt Dorothy "That's why I'm on the bestseller list" Mercer. The life that Franklin had to endure broke my heart, and Dorothy's skills and personality made me laugh while I admired her.

If you're like me and enjoy crime fiction with a strong dose of history, you simply cannot go wrong with Charlotte Hinger's Lottie Albright mysteries. I hope to be reading them for a good long time.… (altro)

It all begins when West Kansas historian Lottie Albright receives a submission for her oral history project. Written by Zelda St John, aunt of political hopeful Brian Hadley, the piece examines torrid racist attitudes in the family’s history. This is the sort of book you settle into and read with relish. ‘Deadly Descent’ by Charlotte Hinger is a mystery thriller which moves with steady detailed steps as the tension twists and twists like a screw being slowly turned.
A first murder is followed rapidly by a second, Lottie is sworn in as a deputy and balances her twin jobs of detecting and collating historical records. The two jobs fit neatly together until anonymous letters start to arrive. Lottie is ably supported by her quiet long-suffering husband Keith, and her clinical psychologist twin sister Josie. Remember the twin thing, it is important later. Sam Abbott, sheriff of the woefully-underfunded Carlton County police, welcomes the resources of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations and so distracts Lottie with research into an old dead case: the old Swenson murders. This feels like a massive diversion, but go with the flow of this book and you will be rewarded.
Hinger plots intricately and draws a totally believable picture of the historical society in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s secrets. Lottie’s project involves everyone writing the story of their family: for some people, the shame is too much.
This is the first of the Lottie Albright series of family history mysteries. Hinger is a Western Kansas historian who edited more than 500 family submissions for county history books.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/… (altro)