Book Review: A Case of Accidental Intersection by W. S. Gager (Mitch Malone Mysteries #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun characters and an interesting story

Cons: Timeline issues early on, took a while to warm up to Mitch

The Bottom Line: 

Interesting plot

And great characters make this

Book well worth reading

Is an Accident a Scoop?

I must admit I am always hesitant to take on free books in exchange for reviews.  I'm always afraid of not enjoying the book.  Still, when author W. S. Gager offered a free copy of a couple of her books, they looked interesting enough I decided to give them a try.  The first one I read was A Case of Accidental Intersection, and it turns out I enjoyed it.

Reporter Mitch Malone has taken his first day off in years.  On his way home from a fun morning with a friend, he comes upon an accident scene - a cement truck has crashed into a red convertible.  It looks like a case of reckless driving turned tragic, but something feels off to Mitch, especially when a witness starts talking about a man being at the scene.

It turns out the driver of the car was Dominique Pewter, the heiress to a furniture factory here in town.  Dominique was just about to take over the family company.  Was this a tragically timed accident or is there really something sinister going on here?

I'll confess the book got off to a rough start.  Mitch is a self-confessed loner who is facing a change in his life since his new boss wants him working days instead of nights.  He seems more hostile than the change calls for.  However, as the book progresses and we see Mitch interacting with other characters, it's obvious his hard exterior isn't as hard as he wants it to be, and I really grew to like him.  Since this is the second in the series, maybe there is a reason for the chip that he seems to be carrying that I didn't quite pick up on.  Either way, by the end I genuinely liked the guy.

Of course, my favorite character was Elsie Dobson, the elderly accident witness.  She is a ton of fun.  Several other characters form really grabbed me as well.  Everyone was well developed and added to the fun of the story.

I figured out the main plot of the story fairly early on, but I have a feeling I was supposed to.  Lots of details confused me, however, and there was plenty of suspense as we waited to see if Mitch would be able to figure out what was really happening and still make his deadline.

My other real complaint with the book was the initial timeline.  In the first 40 or so pages, I never could nail down the time of the accident.  It seemed to shift from noonish to early evening and back again.  It didn't help that one minute it was afternoon and the next it was evening.  Then there's the mysterious case of the event that happened 3 years ago.  On one page it took place around Christmas, but four pages later it happened in February.  If this had continued over the course of the entire book, I would have been annoyed since broken timelines are my biggest pet peeve.  However, things stayed in consistent after that, and I was able to get lost in the story without my editor constantly coming in and trying to make sense of things.

And so A Case of Accidental Intersection turned out to be a book well worth reading.  I'm glad I've got the next one already because I want to find out what happens next to Mitch.