Snowed Under

I read this exciting new Maggie McDonald mystery in the heat of a summer desert, where few settings sound better to me than a snowy mountain getaway. Except, perhaps, a February snowstorm in the High Sierras. The characters are defined well through their actions and conversations. Maggie can’t seem to go anywhere without finding a mystery! This murder is hard to solve, and they learn there is dark side of crime in this little community that they had hoped was left behind in the Silicon Valley. Maggie, our professional organizer, and her best friend Tess take us through back to back blizzards. There is a ski resort and close-knit neighborhood where Tess is now owner the cabin that has been in her late husband Patrick’s family for decades. Tess plans to sell it to pay for her son Teddy’s college and her own career change. Maggie is there to help Tess organize and clean out generations of clothing and miscellany. On Friday, her husband will bring their sons and Teddy for a ski weekend. The morning after they arrive, they go to bring in the groceries they couldn’t in last night’s storm. Maggie slipped, slid, and grabbed onto a leg to steady herself. The only problem was that it wasn’t Tess’s leg. No, it was the frozen leg of a body that was buried head-first in the snowdrift she slid into. The body was that of Dev, a neighbor who disappeared several weeks earlier. He left behind a pregnant wife, two pre-school children, and younger sister who is there as a nanny. Not only do they wonder how he died, but where he had been in the weeks since he went missing. One thing after another keep Maggie and Tess from organizing the cottage, including a power outage, distressed neighbors, an accident that sends Maggie’s car into the garage door of the cabin, and her own injury. She intends to let Quinn, the local police chief, take care of this investigation rather than ask questions and investigate as she does at home. As she sees the toll it takes on Dev’s widow Leslie and his sister Amrita, and other problems arise in the neighborhood, she feels she simply has to step in. This is the first time in the series that I have seen Maggie feel anything but in control. She is in a different town and is having a hard time acclimatizing to the ice, snow, and high altitude. We see her back in her comfort zone when helping Leslie and searching for the whodunit. She has very creative games that kept the little ones busy “helping” with chores! The mystery seemed, to me, to have bit of a slow start. There was no way for the reader to guess who the bad guys could be despite the many possible suspects. We get to see Stephen, Munchkin, and Paolo as they come to keep Maggie safe. The end was definitely a surprise. When the full scope of the death was revealed, the details were difficult to hear. Amrita was a huge help in getting a confession despite the short-term cost to her. Overall, I highly recommend this novel to fans of the series, those who enjoy well-written cozy mysteries, activities for the snowbound, and the comradery of a small community. I received an advanced copy of this book. I was not required to leave a review.

cozy-mystery, mountains, snow-season, dogs, suspense***** I get the feeling that I might have appreciated it better if I had read one or two of the earlier books in the series. Upon arriving at her friend's vacation home in a wealthy area of near Tahoe in the midst of a blizzard where Maggie discovers the frozen body of a nearby resident who went missing a couple of months ago. Turns out that he had a meeting with a blunt instrument to the skull elsewhere and was moved to where he was found. Much conflicting information is uncovered as well as red herrings and plot twists. Very interesting! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley.