Body In The Landscape - A Review

The Body In The Landscape

by

Larissa Reinhart

A Review

I found the body.

Actually, if you want to get technical, I found his hat, then the body.

I had escaped the guests at Big Rack Lodge to do a spot of plein air painting,

when my peaceful Monet-inspired afternoon took a nasty turn toward disturbing.

Landscapes aren’t even my usual genre.

I’m a portrait painter.

But how often do I get a free weekend getaway

in the countryside that included a portrait commission?

I’ll tell you how often. A big fat never

The first seven sentences of the book are perfect – they set the mood, the setting, and introduce the main character. What more could you wish for from a fun romp in rural Georgia on a late fall weekend. Oh, did I mention it is a cozy mystery as well.

Unless you happen to be Cherry Tucker, the unlucky artist who found the first body. Or unless you happened to be Abel Spencer – the unlucky owner of the first body. Or a member of the hunting party who were individually being considered as a suspect. Or …. maybe it was not such a perfect afternoon after all.

Cherry Tucker and her entourage (which included a friendly, but odd, Russian, two boyfriends, one a barely available Mr. McDreamy, the other nice and considerate and very available, and her ex-sheriff dad that taught her everything she knew and more than she ought to know) would be present to keep track of each possible suspect and finally locate the guilty party.

The story was a fun read – though some day's events seemed to take more than the normal 24 hours to accomplish. Max, the friendly Russian, had valuable advice – both about the crime and Cherry's love live. Todd, the considerate and available boyfriend, would take off with nary a goodbye. And Luke, the barely available Mr. McDreamy, was available by phone, though he could not get away for the week's events or murders.

I enjoyed the historical discussion surrounding the existence of hogzilla, both in Georgia and throughout history. One sign of an interesting read is that I am forced to visit the web to fill in my knowledge at some level; hogzilla did exactly that. As the reader picks up the book, be prepared to be educated, entertained, and excited as you, too, discover The Body in the Landscape.

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.