The Final Reveille

The Final Reveille cover

Since I enjoyed the Chloe Ellefson series of mysteries set at a variety of living history museums, I thought I’d try another one from the same publisher, Midnight Ink.

In The Final Reveille by Amanda Flower, out next month, the murder takes place during a Civil War reenactment at a living history farm in Ohio. Kelsey Cambridge has been showing the wealthy donor Cynthia Cherry around for the special weekend events. Cynthia’s unpleasant nephew and heir Maxwell is threatening to withdraw support for the location when his aunt passes, but then he’s found dead on the grounds.

The Final Reveille cover

The local police chief is on site dressed up as one of the Confederates. He finds Kelsey the most likely suspect, even though Maxwell’s new fiancee Portia used to date one of the Union soldiers, Maxwell’s old business partner is on-site under an alias, and Maxwell similarly threatened to pull funding from the head gardener’s pet charity. Meanwhile, Kelsey’s ex-husband has shown up with a new love interest, and Kelsey is flirted with by the chief’s nephew, a cute and funny paramedic.

The writing is pedestrian but easy to follow. Kelsey is spunky and determined, someone who’s easy to sympathize with and root for. This is one of those mysteries with a romantic sub-plot, where the heroine is attacked by the villain but not killed so she can be rescued by the love interest along the way to finally revealing who did it.

The descriptions flow, putting you on site at the location, and they’ll likely make you want to take in a reenactment or visit a living history museum near you. I enjoyed the brief escape in reading this; it wasn’t challenging, but it kept me involved in the story while I relaxed with it. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)



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