Dead On Ice by Lauren Carr + Giveaway

Dead On Ice by Lauren Carr
First self-published in America in 2012. Audiobook edition narrated by Mike Alger published by Acorn Book Services in November 2016.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy via iRead Book Tours
(See the other stops on the tour)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Spunky Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a legendary star of pornographic films, whose body turns up in an abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to her lover, Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was located in his cousin's basement. It doesn't take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué star's roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept her hometown off her road map, too - because when this starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal homecoming.

Dead On Ice is a complicated small town mystery with a large cast of characters so I needed to keep concentrating throughout the book to understand all the twists and turns of the case. Carr starts with a flashback prologue depicting a bullying event from the 1970s before launching into the present-day Ohio mystery. For a reasonably short book - only six hours of audio - there is a lot packed in and I particularly liked the antagonistic relationships such as those between warring elderly rivals Doris and Mildred, and between our sleuth Joshua and his girlfriend's cat, Irving. The cat frequently steals the show from all the other characters! Narrator Mike Alger was a good choice to read Dead On Ice because his voice has the versatility to cope with the many and varied cast members and the tension of the novel.

I did find that for me there was sometimes too much padding in certain scenes which upset the overall pace of the story. This tended to be at time when people were talking and eating and we were told every single bite as well as the conversation. Other than these such moments though, I found Dead On Ice to be an entertaining and engaging read. Despite it being a murder mystery, the violence is kept pretty much out of sight so I was never confronted with unexpectedly gruesome details and generally the story remains believable enough. The romance between Cameron and Joshua is nicely portrayed, underpinned by a strong friendship between the two and I imagine that they will go on to have many more crime-solving adventures together.

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns! Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband and three dogs (including the real Gnarly’s klutzy nephew Sterling) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

And now it's giveaway time!

To celebrate Lauren' Audiobook-a-palooza Blog Tour one $100 Amazon gift card will be given away to a lucky winner. The giveaway is open internationally until the 22nd of July.

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Good luck! 

Etsy Find!
	Murder Mystery  pre-cut Cupcake Toppers by Harbeth Limited in the United Kingdom Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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