I just finished “Tarnished Remains”, second book in Paty Jager’s “Shandra Higheagle Mysteries”. A Big 5 Stars! This story is a murder mystery set in Idaho on Shandra Higheagle’s farm. Shandra grew up with little memory of her father who died in an accident when she was a small child. Thanks to her grandmother she grew up understanding her Native American heritage. This is a part of the story I really liked, after her grandmother’s death, her grandmother still visited Shandra in her dreams. Shandra accepted that she dreamed of her grandmother and the visits seem to help her through the rough patches in her life, which includes solving murder mysteries, but she still feels the visits are actually her mind‘s own way of working through the issues.
Well, it seems Shandra has a knack for finding dead bodies. In Tarnished Remains Shandra unearths a body while digging on her own property to retrieve the clay needed to fashion her pottery. Can you imagine just digging away in your garden and unearthing an old boot with the foot still in it?!
Detective Ryan Greer is the first person to come to her mind as the person to call. If you haven’t read book one in the series, she and the detective worked together before. Shandra was his main suspect in book one. This is mentioned in book two and flows with the story. Tarnished Remains is a complete story and stands on its own. So don’t worry if you haven’t read book one, it is not necessary to understand the second book.
Tarnished Remains kept me on my toes. Just when I thought I knew who the murderer was, I changed my mind. I just loved the small town atmosphere and all the corky people living there. I reminded me of the small town I grew up near and went to school in. I swear, everyone in this book looked at least a little guilty at some part of the story. It had me guessing till the very end and when the true culprit was revealed it made perfect sense.
I give Tarnished Remains 5 stars. It is a small town murder mystery with a hint of budding true love. There is also the dream visiting grandmother, I always love a touch of super natural, a big, lovable, and a scared of his own shadow dog, I have one of those and I Love her, Love her, Love her! A mysterious Crazy Lil, and there are corky, cranky townsfolk. What else could you ask for? I loved it.
It is a stand alone story so you don’t have to read them in sequence, but if you haven’t read book one it would be great fun to read it first.
Pick up your copy here!
http://www.amazon.com/Tarnished-Remains-Shandra-Higheagle-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00T83F3XE/ref
