Alane Ferguson
17 year old Cameryn Mahoney wants to be a forensic pathologist. Living in a teeny town in the mountains of Colorado, she doesn't get to see much in the way murders and forensics, even with her dad being the county coroner. So Cameryn learns what she can by studying her books. Until a new deputy comes to town, and the Christopher Killer drops a body right at the town's doorstep.
This forensic mystery is rock-solid. Solid characters, solid plot, solid writing, and solid details regarding the science of forensics.
Each character is distinctively drawn. You get cozy with the ones you need to, you like the ones you're supposed to, you get annoyed with the ones who are annoying, and you doubt the ones you're supposed to doubt. Nothing lacks in this author's characterizations.
The descriptions are lovely without being over the top, and you can easily imagine the picturesque scenery of the Colorado mountains. The descriptions of the dead and the autopsy are realistic, but artfully done so as not to be gory.
While you know the killer really can't be just *anyone*, there are enough red herrings to keep you guessing until the end who the Christopher Killer is.
The only niggly thing for me was the amount of time spent going over every detail in the forensic's lab. For me, I'm kind of an action girl, and I'd much rather have shortened that (it went on for *quite* a long time) and get right back to the mystery at hand. But boy oh boy, this author makes up for it in the end. The climatic scene was fraught with tension and suspense. This author *knows* how to write tension. I had to force myself to slow my reading down, wanting to rush through to the end to see how it all panned out. The ending of this book could easily be used as a teaching tool for writers. The "how to end a book with tension" class.
Excellent read for mystery-lovers.
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