She Treads Softly: Close Range

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Close Range

Close Range by Shannon Baker
10/8/24; 300 pages
Severn River
Kate Fox #9

Close Range by Shannon Baker is a highly recommended mystery and the ninth book in the Kate Fox series set in the sandhills of Nebraska.

There is plenty of small town intrigue as Sheriff Kate Fox is facing a recall election started by a petition her very own sister Louise filed. Kate's best friend, Sarah, is at the hospital awaiting the birth of her next child when Garrett Haney, Sarah's brother, is found electrocuted. Kate has the state police start the investigation, and then, after she loses the recall, she and the new, young Sheriff Zoe also look into it and find his death to be suspicious.

The focus of most of the plot is a whole lot of on-going family drama that I'm sure was started much earlier in the series. Admittedly, I haven't read the other books in the series and did lose track of some of the family and interpersonal relationships at times, but could parse out all the connections I needed to in order to follow the narrative in Close Range.

Fans of the series who have been introduced to all the characters are very likely going to easily jump right into the action. The main characters receive further development and experience some growth. However, there were some characters that I never quite figured out how their inclusion in the plot mattered.

There were a couple nice twists and the ending was a surprise. Thanks to Severn River for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.