I bought Hornswoggled, excited to find a new mystery author, from Oklahoma. The first in the series wasn't available at this store so I settled for #2.
A woman has been found stabbed and hidden in a pond under some tree roots. Her husband, the town barber, is suspected but he has an air tight alibi. He was in Kansas City when his wife was murdered, and arrived back in Boynton, Oklahoma after her body was found.
A few months later, the grieving barber has his sights set on Alafair's daughter Alice. And the feeling is mutual. Alafair does not trust the charming, handsome, wealthy barber and is determined to find out who killed his wife, before her daughter could possibly become his next victim.
I enjoyed the book mainly for its historical setting in Oklahoma, the first decade after statehood. Casey included many details of what life was like in 1913, living on a farm with a small town nearby.
Sometimes those details bogged the story down. I didn't mind the section where Alafair is churning butter but when a long paragraph is devoted solely on how each member of the Tucker clan (13 in all) like their eggs, the story grinds to a screeching halt. I had to put the book down for a short while, before convincing myself to pick it back up again and finish it.
I grew up reading the Hardy Boys in grade school before I graduated to Agatha Christie and others. I realized Frank and Joe rarely solved a mystery. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other sleuths figure out the mystery by looking at all the clues and figuring out who the bad guy is. Hornswoggled is the same vein as the Hardy Boys. Alafair realizes whodunit isn't anyone she suspected until it was too late.
Still, I would recommend this to people who enjoy cozy mysteries, early Oklahoma, or pre-WWI history buffs
I enjoyed the book mainly for its historical setting in Oklahoma, the first decade after statehood. Casey included many details of what life was like in 1913, living on a farm with a small town nearby.
Sometimes those details bogged the story down. I didn't mind the section where Alafair is churning butter but when a long paragraph is devoted solely on how each member of the Tucker clan (13 in all) like their eggs, the story grinds to a screeching halt. I had to put the book down for a short while, before convincing myself to pick it back up again and finish it.
I grew up reading the Hardy Boys in grade school before I graduated to Agatha Christie and others. I realized Frank and Joe rarely solved a mystery. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other sleuths figure out the mystery by looking at all the clues and figuring out who the bad guy is. Hornswoggled is the same vein as the Hardy Boys. Alafair realizes whodunit isn't anyone she suspected until it was too late.
Still, I would recommend this to people who enjoy cozy mysteries, early Oklahoma, or pre-WWI history buffs
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