She Treads Softly: Killer Flock

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Killer Flock

Killer Flock by Shannon Baker
10/7/25; 283 pages
Severn River Publishing
Kate Fox #11

Killer Flock by Shannon Baker is a highly recommended locked-room mystery. This eleventh novel in the Kate Fox series pays homage to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

A blizzard is moving in and a van full of eight bird watchers slides off the road. Sheriff Zoe is stuck an hour away so she calls Kate and asks if she can get them to a shelter. Kate has her sister Louise and Deenie, her father’s latest ex-girlfriend, at her house so the three work together and take the group to the only shelter available, the local public school. Louise gathers supplies for the group including enough food for days, cots, and sleeping bags. After they feed the group, Kate, Deenie, and Louisa realize that the blizzard has left them stuck at the school too.

Hearing all sorts of restlessness among the group overnight, the next day one of the tourists is found dead. Cell service is down and the electricity is off so they are dependent on the generators to stay warm in limited areas. Kate photographs the scene, documents what she observes, secures the crime scene, and takes statements from the group while they wait for a snow plow and the sheriff. What becomes clear is that every one of the group has secrets and information they aren't sharing.

This is an entertaining locked-room mystery that challenges Kate in new ways. With Louisa there, readers following the series know there will be clashes between her and anyone who doesn't follow her directions, which is mainly Deenie. She is a nice addition to the cast of characters here. The tourists are all very different but they do have one thing in common and Kate needs to figure out what binds the group together. It's clearly not bird watching. This might be a better choice for those who are acquainted with the characters, but I think enough backstory is included to allow it to be read as a standalone novel.

Killer Flock by Shannon Baker is a great choice for those who enjoy locked-room mysteries and will appreciate the nod to Murder on the Orient Express. Thanks to Severn River Publishing 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.