Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – AN UNFORGIVING PLACE BY CLAIRE KELLS

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – AN UNFORGIVING PLACE BY CLAIRE KELLS

Review: Forgotten Trail: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells

Forgotten Trail: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells is the latest in this very good series that began with Vanishing Edge: A Novel. This third book in the series takes readers to Pinnacles National Park in California. One of the newer parks, it includes a newly opened hotel, Pinnacles Grand Hotel. Only open about a week, not only is it a bit of hike from the parking lot to get to the hotel, once there, the room are not cheap. A murder is not going to help the price point or their reputation. But, that is what has happened.

At least, that is what the manager, James Dunaway, claims in a phone call to Special Agent Felicity Harland. He has bypassed the protocols in place to report the situation directly to her. Since the scene is in the park, that makes it an Investigative Services Branch case. Since she is a special agent with ISB and currently covering Pinnacles National Park, and several other parks, that makes the case hers.

Before long, Agent Harland is at the hotel, as is her partner, Investigator Ferdinand “Hux” Huxley. The deceased is Chris Mason though, according to his wife, his real last name is Denton. The same wife who was found standing over the body of her dead husband. A serial cheater, according to his wife, he checked in with another woman who is now believed to be missing.

There is also a missing hiker elsewhere in the park and a serious terrorism threat situation at San Francisco International airport. That means Harlan and Hux have to handle the case on their own without any assistance from the FBI. They are pretty much on their own with a lot to do.

What follows is a complex mystery where readers are given little more regarding the backstory of Harland and how she got to this point in her life. That further character development does not get in the way of the complex mystery at work in Forgotten Trail: A National Park Mystery. Like any really good series where each book builds on the previous ones, such is the case here. So, if this series is new to you, start in the beginning with Vanishing Edge: A Novel. That is followed by An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery. The reads are well worth it.

If it is not clear already, Forgotten Trail: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells is a mighty good read. Strongly recommend, as is the series. 

My reading copy came by way of a publisher ARC through NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – VANISHING EDGE BY CLAIRE KELLS

 Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – VANISHING EDGE BY CLAIRE KELLS

Favorite Books of 2022

Back in July, I told you of my five favorite books of the year to that point. Today as the year winds to a close, I give you more favorites.

As I have said before, I remain very slow reading wise. The books selected refer my personal tastes, biases, and all that jazz. I am not saying that these are the best books. I am stating that they were my favorites during the past year.

An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells picks up a few weeks after Vanishing Edge. On assignment in Denali National Park, Investigative Service Branch Special Agent Felicity Harland is sent to the Gates of the Artic National Park to investigate the discovery of two bodies.

It is mid December 1935 as Funeral Train: A Dust Bowl Mystery by Laurie Loewenstein begins and life has been brutal in the panhandle of Oklahoma with the ongoing Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. The good people of Vermillion, Oklahoma, and the surrounding area are facing adversity on a daily basis and hanging on by their fingernails. A train derailment, a murder, and much more has a huge impact on all in this excellent sequel to Death of A Rainmaker: A Dust Bowl Mystery.

Murder at the Jubilee Rally: A Samuel Craddock Mystery by Terry Shames opens with many of the locals less than thrilled with the coming event featuring motorcycle folks from all over. They won’t be happy about the murder either.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love a good western. Larry D. Sweazy always makes that happen and did with Lost Mountain Pass. It is May 1988 and Judge Gordon Hadesworth and U.S. Deputy Marshall Sam “Trusty” Dawson plan to get out of town fast now that the three Darby brothers, Cleatus, Horace, and Rascal, are swinging slowly from the gallows and are most assuredly dead.

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones is the third book in the series that began with A Bad Day For Sunshine. This is a series that must be read in order. Along with some personal stuff that has just happened here in book three, Sheriff Sunshine Vicram and her team have two missing people to find and the case of a critically injured woman out at Copper Canyon. Rescuing her and then finding out what happened to her drives the novel forward alongside several complicated secondary story lines that have been playing out this entire series.

There you have it. Five in July and five more now. Enjoy the reads. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Review: An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells

While I told you about this book back in early August, today is publication day, so I am running my spoiler free review again today. I am serious about reading in order as it very much matter here.

 

An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells picks up a few weeks after Vanishing Edge. On assignment in Denali National Park, Investigative Service Branch Special Agent Felicity Harland is sent to the Gates of the Artic National Park to investigate the discovery of two bodies. Search and rescue is active in another part of the park looking for two hikers that have been missing almost a month. Timothy and Kelsey Greer might be the deceased or they might still be alive and lost in the vast wilderness.

Before long Special Agents Felicity Harland and Ferdinand Huxley (who has made the jump to ISB from being a Park Ranger and is being pulled from doing training modules- much to his relief) are at the scene of the two bodies. Unlike in most cases, there has been little involvement by animals. No obvious cause of death and no signs of defensive wounds. It is clear that they are dead, but the signs of what caused it are not clear. There are also clear indications that something strange was going on before they died. One example are the faint marks on the wrists on both bodies that indicate some sort of ligatures were used on them in recent days.

Harland and Huxley are on the case and soon forced to work undercover to ferret out the truth. Humans are one threat. Nature itself is another. Either can kill you dead if you let your guard down.

A worthy and enjoyable sequel to Vanishing Edge, much is going on in this complicated and action filled read. Events and backstory regarding the first book come up here. Quite a lot from book one is referenced, so it is strongly recommended that readers start with Vanishing Edge first. You will enjoy this very good sequel a lot more if you do so.

While the book is currently scheduled to be released on November 8th, I was able to read it now thanks to a digital ARC from Severn House via NetGalley.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Review: An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells

An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells picks up a few weeks after Vanishing Edge. On assignment in Denali National Park, Investigative Service Branch Special Agent Felicity Harland is sent to the Gates of the Artic National Park to investigate the discovery of two bodies. Search and rescue is active in another part of the park looking for two hikers that have been missing almost a month. Timothy and Kelsey Greer might be the deceased or they might still be alive and lost in the vast wilderness.

Before long Special Agents Felicity Harland and Ferdinand Huxley (who has made the jump to ISB from being a Park Ranger and is being pulled from doing training modules- much to his relief) are at the scene of the two bodies. Unlike in most cases, there has been little involvement by animals. No obvious cause of death and no signs of defensive wounds. It is clear that they are dead, but the signs of what caused it are not clear. There are also clear indications that something strange was going on before they died. One example are the faint marks on the wrists on both bodies that indicate some sort of ligatures were used on them in recent days.

Harland and Huxley are on the case and soon forced to work undercover to ferret out the truth. Humans are one threat. Nature itself is another. Either can kill you dead if you let your guard down.

A worthy and enjoyable sequel to Vanishing Edge, much is going on in this complicated and action filled read. Events and backstory regarding the first book come up here. Quite a lot from book one is referenced, so it is strongly recommended that readers start with Vanishing Edge first. You will enjoy this very good sequel a lot more if you do so.

While An Unforgiving Place: A National Park Mystery by Claire Kells is currently scheduled to be released on November 8th, I was able to read it now thanks to a digital ARC from Severn House via NetGalley.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Review: Vanishing Edge: A Novel by Claire Kells

Just over three years ago, Felicity Harland should have died while on a camping trip with her partner Kevin. He vanished and she was left with his loss and a destroyed back. While the FBI granted her an extended medical leave, over time she read the proverbial writing on the wall, and left the agency. These days she is a recently hired Criminal Investigator for the Investigative Services Branch and deals with crimes of all types that happen in National Parks.

 

Pulled off a case in Yosemite, she and her dog, a Shepard mix named Ollie, soon find themselves in Sequoia National Park dealing with Chief Ranger Rick Corrigan. He called her because of an abandoned campsite out in the vicinity of Precipice Lake. Ferdinand Huxley, the ranger that inspected the scene, could not find anyone. Clearly the campsite was set up by a very expensive company that caters to the wealthy. Their logo was on every item at the site. One of those companies that specializes in “luxury camping” where they set up everything so their wealthy clients do nothing but show up. While nobody knows who the clients are, and the company reps won’t say claiming privacy concerns, it is pretty clear that they are not there. A check of the area indicates that the folks are not just wandering around nearby either.

 

Huxley and Handy team up and it is not long before they find signs that indicated at least one of the missing campers crashed through a hole in the ice on the high-altitude lake. It is April and still cold, so that person is most likely dead.  Recovery of the body is going to be difficult and require a tea and resources. That still does not address what happened to at least one other person who had been at the campsite.

 

Then there is the fact that missing wealthy campers is not the only problem in these woods. Nature itself is not the only threat in Vanishing Edge: A Novel by Claire Kells.

 

Billed as the first book in a new series, this is an intense and complicated read. Along with plenty of backstory for the two primary characters Huxley and Hardy, that is slowly revealed, the case itself is a complicated chase that runs from the mountains of the park to the streets of Los Angeles. Much is at work here in this novel that sets an expansive and detailed ground floor for the upcoming series. This very good book is well worth your time and strongly recommended.

 

 

My reading copy came from the Highland Hills Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2022