Review: Kindred Spirits
Tempe Crabtree is a deputy sheriff in Bear Creek, a small town at the base of the Sierra Mountains, and she’s married to Hutch Hutchinson, the local preacher. After a forest fire ravaged through their small community, Vanessa Ainsworth, a local artist, and her dog are discovered dead. The coroner informs Tempe that they were shot before the fire. Since no one in Bear Creek knows much about Vanessa, the investigation goes nowhere. Tempe is visited by Vanessa’s spirit, who warns her of danger. Being the only woman in the Sheriff’s Department and Native American, too, Tempe is sent to Crescent City to investigate Vanessa’s past. She contacts Vanessa’s cousin and close friend and they tell her all about Vanessa and teach her some Indian lore, too. While she’s in Crescent City, Tempe is followed, leading her to believe she’s on the right track. The trail leads Tempe and Hutch to Santa Barbara and an exciting climax to the mystery.
Kindred Spirits is the eighth book in Marilyn Meredith‘s Tempe Crabtree mystery series. It is not necessary to read any of the other books in the series to enjoy this one. It is a solid, entertaining, and somewhat predictable mystery with some Native American facts woven into the story. I’m sorry to admit that I don’t know much about Native American history; this book made me want to rectify that. You can read the first chapter here. Go to Savvy Verse & Wit for another review and a chance to win Wingbeat by Marilyn Meredith. Check out the trailer for this book (this may not work in Firefox):
Thanks for the great review. I enjoyed this book as well. I’ve only read the last two, but I want to pick up the others because I would like to read all of Tempe’s story.
Cheryl
Nice review. I haven’t heard of this one but might pick it up!
Thank you so much for this great review!
Marilyn
I’ve added a link to your review! I’m running a contest for Marilyn’s latest book, WingBeat. Come check it out!
http://savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com/2008/10/kindred-spirits-by-marilyn-meredith.html
Thanks for linking my review and contest. I liked Kindred Spirits. I didn’t know anything about the two tribes Meredith talks about in the books. It was good to see different tribes.
It’s nice when you can dive right into a series in the middle without having to have read the previous books. Makes it less intimidating to start!
This sounds interesting. I’m not familiar with this mystery series. Thanks for the review!
Sound like fascinating books, Marilyn. I love a good mystery, and a Christian sideline to boot–you can’t lose. Nice job on the blog tour too. Best of luck and happy sales to you.
Janet
Great review, Kathy. I like it when you can pick up a book in a series and not feel you’re completely lost having not read the others. This sounds like an educational as well as interesting read.
Thanks for a good review Kathy. I am in need of another light mystery series to start and this sounds like a good one!
I love it when you can read a series out of order and still understand it all. Great review!
Although I’m not into mysteries so much, I do like Native American info tied into stories. Thanks for the review!