Carolyn Mulford

Show Me the Sinister Snowman by Carolyn Mulford

A congressman ends up dead, unsure if an accident, suicide or murder. Phoenix Smith, a retired CIA investigator is on the scene. Along with her lovable dog Achilles, she digs deep to solve the crime. Many possible suspects and danger await as she slowly unravels the mystery.

The story moves at a steady pace with plenty of twists, turns and suspects. Phoenix is likable, as well as her lovable partner, her dog Achilles. With a classic who-done-it style, I was hooked from the first page until the last. I highly recommend Show Me the Sinister Snowman to those who enjoy a classic cozy murder mystery.… (altro)

A mark of a good mystery series is when you can pick up any volume as a starting place and not feel lost. That test is passed by “Show Me the Deadly Deer,” the second entry in Carolyn Mulford’s enjoyable Show Me series, set in rural Missouri.
Phoenix Smith had taken leave from her economist job in Vienna to return to her home town of Laycock, Missouri, while recuperating from gall bladder surgery. At least that’s her cover story. In reality, the deep-cover CIA agent was recovering from wounds received when an operation went bad three months earlier. Her childhood friend Annalynn Keyser is now the acting sheriff of Laycock, and is the only one privy to Phoenix’s secret. One other may have sniffed out Phoenix’s secrets, but he won’t tell anyone—Achilles, the Belgian Shepherd who has become Phoenix’s close companion.
When a wife reports her farmer husband missing, the women and Achilles locate him by a pond in the cattle pasture on their property, dead from a wound in his back. Sticking out of the wound is part of a deer’s antler. Phoenix suspects a human has used the antler to cover the murder. At Annalynn’s insistence, Phoenix uses the cover story of checking on the local deer population to investigate possible killers. There are no shortage of suspects, including the widow, a possible eco-terrorist, and a hostile neighbor. Phoenix doesn’t mind using her tradecraft to cut investigational corners, though she must figure out legal ways to pass the information to her friend.
The killer ambushes Phoenix and Achilles, coming within a hair’s breadth of killing the dog. Then he strikes again. Phoenix must use all her analytical and observational skills to discover both the who and the why behind the murders.
Carolyn Mulford has crafted a satisfying mystery with enough twists to keep the reader turning the pages. She captures the flavor of the rural life, where everyone knows everyone’s business, but where deadly secrets can still remain hidden.

Reviewed by David Ingram for Suspense Magazine… (altro)