A Lonesome Place for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase is the sequel to A Lonesome Place for Dying. It, like that first book, is a really good read. You could read this one first, if you wanted, but why do that as the series is a good one and should be read in order like all good series.
As this book
begins, Chief of Police Ethan Brand and Deputy Brenda Lee Page are slogging it
out as they hike through a pasture. The mission is to find an old man and a
certain horse. Both work for the small town of Blaine, Washington, near the
border with Canada. They might not be the ones even out there now except for the
fact that Chief of Police Brand is thinking about buying the horse. He had an
appointment to see the horse and brought Deputy Brenda Lee Page with him, on
her day off, as support as she knows animals. Not that she knows much about
horses.
Brand’s ex and
the kids live in Boston now and the most recent visitation did not go as well
as he would have hoped. Both of his sons during the summer visitation were too
immersed in their electronic devices when they were not actively doing
something. That is except for one afternoon when they were able to interact
with a horse in its trailer. The Christmas visitation is coming up and Brand is
thinking that maybe a horse would help things. He wants his young sons to be present
in the world and understand that there are things that matter far more than
chatting online and playing videogames. He is feeling a growing gap between his
sons and himself and is having a hard time with the dawning realization that his
ex and his sons aren’t going to come back home.
The muddy and
wet pasture they are slogging through has a slope to it as it sits parallel to
the Canadian border. It is where they were sent by the owner’s wife to go check
on him as he is overdue for getting back to the house. The slope and the wet ground
are working Brand’s surgically repaired left foot and causing him increasing pain
as he climbs steadily higher up the slope. The man they are looking for is Mac
Steranko. Once they finally the crest and can look down the other side, towards
the border, they can see him sitting on the ground near a patch of disturbed
ground.
The elderly Mr.
Steranko is a tough man and lucky to be alive. He is a bit banged up as is the
horse, Trim Reckoning. It is favoring a leg and is a bit spooked by the hole in
the ground. Mr. Steranko explains that the horse stumbled hard because a patch
of ground suddenly gave way under it.
Even more ground
gives way when Brenda Lee starts poking around and accidentally causes a bigger
collapse. One that dumps her several feet down into a hole that is now several
feet long. In fact, this is not a hole, but a partial tunnel collapse.
Back a few years
earlier, Brand was in the military. One of his duties in the Helmand Province
of Afghanistan was clearing tunnels. The last thing he wants to do is go down
in that tunnel. But, when Brenda Lee finds a body in there that has been there
for quite some time, he doesn’t have a choice.
A body that soon
means quite a lot to Ethan Brand in more ways than one.
What follows is
another highly entertaining and complicated read in this great series. Not only
do they have a murder to solve, local politics is heating up, his ex has plans
that don’t involve him, and history is rearing its ugly head. Much is going on professionally
and personally and Ethan Brand is a bit like the dogged prize fighter that
takes body blow and head shot, one after another, with barely any time to
breathe as he leans against the ropes. Backed in a corner every which way, all
he can do is keep his head down, and keep dodging that fatal blow. Or that head
shot as the case may be.
A Lonesome Place
for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase is a mighty good read.
Very much strongly recommended as it is well worth your time.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4iVOHo1
My digital ARC
reading copy came from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley,
with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
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