Sometimes you find a series you like and have to wait months or even years between installments (I'm talking about you Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling). Thankfully, Kendra Elliot seems to be a prolific and fast writer, and she's been cranking out the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Set in rural central Oregon and featuring the Prepper community, it's a great 4-5 star series that's mostly murder/mystery with a dash of romance thrown in. Here's a recap of the three books so far.
In
A Merciful Death, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick returns to her childhood hometown to help solve a spate of murders in the prepper community, which just happens to be the type of environment she grew up in. Mercy left her family under bad terms and hasn't seen or spoken to any of them in fifteen years. needless to say, her return sparks a mixed reaction between her parents and her four siblings. The murderer is stealing weapons from the preppers, and Mercy is worried that her family is getting caught up in the investigation. There are some similarities to a couple of murders that happened fifteen years ago that precipitated Mercy's break with her family. Mercy barely touches her paramour-to-be in Book 1 of this series, but sparks do fly between her and Eagle's Nest police chief Truman Daly. The plot and timing are solid, and Kendra Elliot does a good job of explaining the mindset of the preppers without laughing at them.
A Merciful Truth picks up just two months after Book 1 –
Mercy and Truman are getting closer, but Mercy still has her guard up. Kaylie,
Mercy’s niece, has moved in with her after the death of her father, and also
has a new love in her life, Cade, but life is not peaceful. Someone is setting
fires around Eagle’s Nest and shooting at law enforcement officers, while
strangers are coming into town and building up a militia. Mercy and Truman are
on the case, which will hit close to home once again. Mercy's oldest brother Owen is involved with the "bad" guys, and blames her for the death of their brother Levi. Fast pacing throughout
keeps the ball rolling and it’s a solid read.
For Book 3,
A Merciful Secret, two more months have gone by again. Winter has
arrived in the Cascades, and Mercy has just spent a long night working at her
beloved cabin, preparing for whatever disaster might come. As she starts the
long drive home at 3 am (does she ever sleep?!), a frightened young girl jumps
out of nowhere and leads her back to her own isolated cabin, where her
grandmother is dying from a horrific knife attack. While at first it seems like
an isolated incident, after it’s connected to a similar but seemingly
unrelated murder of a judge in Portland, the FBI is on the case. Was it the
young girl’s mother, Salome? The judge’s son, Christian? And why does everybody
know everyone anyways? (oh yeah, it’s a small town!) While the identity of the
killer and the big “secret” was kind of obvious, I enjoyed the way Kendra
Elliot pieced everything together, I’m still rooting for Mercy, and the end was
pretty heartbreaking, so I must be invested in the characters.
In A Merciful Death, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick returns to her childhood hometown to help solve a spate of murders in the prepper community, which just happens to be the type of environment she grew up in. Mercy left her family under bad terms and hasn't seen or spoken to any of them in fifteen years. needless to say, her return sparks a mixed reaction between her parents and her four siblings. The murderer is stealing weapons from the preppers, and Mercy is worried that her family is getting caught up in the investigation. There are some similarities to a couple of murders that happened fifteen years ago that precipitated Mercy's break with her family. Mercy barely touches her paramour-to-be in Book 1 of this series, but sparks do fly between her and Eagle's Nest police chief Truman Daly. The plot and timing are solid, and Kendra Elliot does a good job of explaining the mindset of the preppers without laughing at them.
A Merciful Truth picks up just two months after Book 1 –
Mercy and Truman are getting closer, but Mercy still has her guard up. Kaylie,
Mercy’s niece, has moved in with her after the death of her father, and also
has a new love in her life, Cade, but life is not peaceful. Someone is setting
fires around Eagle’s Nest and shooting at law enforcement officers, while
strangers are coming into town and building up a militia. Mercy and Truman are
on the case, which will hit close to home once again. Mercy's oldest brother Owen is involved with the "bad" guys, and blames her for the death of their brother Levi. Fast pacing throughout
keeps the ball rolling and it’s a solid read. 
For Book 3, A Merciful Secret, two more months have gone by again. Winter has
arrived in the Cascades, and Mercy has just spent a long night working at her
beloved cabin, preparing for whatever disaster might come. As she starts the
long drive home at 3 am (does she ever sleep?!), a frightened young girl jumps
out of nowhere and leads her back to her own isolated cabin, where her
grandmother is dying from a horrific knife attack. While at first it seems like
an isolated incident, after it’s connected to a similar but seemingly
unrelated murder of a judge in Portland, the FBI is on the case. Was it the
young girl’s mother, Salome? The judge’s son, Christian? And why does everybody
know everyone anyways? (oh yeah, it’s a small town!) While the identity of the
killer and the big “secret” was kind of obvious, I enjoyed the way Kendra
Elliot pieced everything together, I’m still rooting for Mercy, and the end was
pretty heartbreaking, so I must be invested in the characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment