Book Review: Caught Redhanded by Gayle Roper (Amhearst Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Spending more time with great characters

Cons: Story predictable

The Bottom Line:

Say goodbye to friends

With one last fun mystery

And Merry's wedding

You Caught Me Enjoying This Series Closer

When Gayle Roper first introduced news reporter Merry Kramer almost a decade ago, I devoured the three mysteries in the series. When no more ever came, I was left wanting one more volume to wrap up some of the characters story lines. Now, a different publisher has picked up the original three and published Caught Redhanded. While not the strongest in the series, I had a blast catching up with old friends and getting the closure I was looking for.

When the series opened, Merry had moved to the small town of Amhearst, Pennsylvania, to work at their local paper. She was also attempting a fresh start after breaking up with a long term boyfriend. While the series has always had a strong mystery element, over the course of the series, she has met Curt Carlyle, and this book opens two weeks before their wedding.

Merry has a sudden desire to get into shape before the wedding, and her co-worker Jolene challenges her to go jogging. So early the next morning, the two hit the local jogging path, only to stumble, literally in Jolene's case, on the body of Martha Colby.

Martha was a normal seeming single woman with no known reasons to be murdered. The investigation quickly turns up the fact that Martha had a new boyfriend, and the evidence seems to point to Merry's boss Mac. But Mac is happily in a relationship with someone else. It couldn't be him, could it? Can Merry survive long enough to find out? Will she solve the case before her wedding?

So let's start by being honest. The wedding was only a ploy to wrap up some on-going storylines. It hardly plays a factor in the story out side a few references. In fact, Merry seems to be working the week of her wedding with no plans to take time off before her honeymoon.

And as long as we're being honest, this book was fairly predictable. The storylines I most wanted to read this book for wrapped up as I expected. I had the murder pretty much figured out by the half way point. There was one sub-plot that surprised me. And there were several scenes that had my heart racing, so it wasn't all bad.

Even with the story being so predictable, I couldn't put the book down. Why? Partially because of the characters. Over the previous three books, I've grown to love these characters, and I was thrilled to get to spend more time with them. These are real people with real struggles and fears. There are hardly any new characters (which is one reason the mystery is obvious), but the few there are develop nicely as well.

This is a Christian book, but that fact is never overbearing. It is treated as part of who the characters are instead of something to stop the story with preaching. Anyone who enjoys Christian fiction will enjoy how this aspect is handled.

Finally, there's the writing. It is as smooth as ever, which helped make the pages fly by. Even when I needed to put the book down to do something else, I found it way too hard to tear my eyes away from the page.

This isn't author Gayle Roper's best book, but it is certainly enjoyable. Even more importantly, Caught Redhanded will please those looking for some closure to Merry's life. I know it worked for me.