Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Charlie Parker Mysteries #18
Publication Date: 6/23/19
Number of Pages: 234

Another great addition to the Charlie Parker series – I think it is one of my favorites so far. I would like to see more of Drake in the investigations – he’s very laid back with his wife getting arrested and having guns pointed at her. No, that isn’t a sexist comment – I’d feel the same way if Charlie were a male. I also hated that there wasn’t a complete resolution to the case – I hope that maybe we’ll see that resolution in the next book, but at the end of this book, it was mostly left hanging.

During a flying job in a remote area of Maine, Charlie and Drake are approached by a very frail old man who wants them to fly him to his son’s cabin just north of where their helicopter is currently based. After the old man explains that the cabin doesn’t have any access by vehicle and that his son has to hike out several miles before he can reach any kind of road. The old man is very ill and couldn’t make the hike, so they agree to take him up there – and then return to pick him up.

The old man ends up wanting to hire Charlie’s investigative agency to find evidence to clear his son of a ten-year-old charge of jury tampering. It is his dying wish to have his son cleared of those charges and Charlie just can’t refuse.

As Charlie begins to investigate, she suspects there is more to the case than just jury tampering. Then, there is a murder of a high-profile judge, are the two cases related? Why would someone want to frame her client? Who really tampered with the jury? Why? Was it politically motivated?

This story is filled with lots of twists and turns and a good mystery. The writing is excellent and the descriptions are so vivid you feel as if you could drive around in Albuquerque and find your way.

I will say that I have a complaint about the ebook formatting. There is no table of contents included so that I can easily move back and forth between chapters. It has nothing to do with the excellent writing in the book, but it is annoying nonetheless.