5 out of 5 stars

Welcome to my stop on this particular blog tour! Today I’m featuring “Color Me Dead” by Teresa Trent, which is the first in the Henry Park series. I really enjoyed this book and I’m already excited for the second book in the series!!

Purchase Link – Amazon

Brief Synopsis

Artist Gabby Wolfe has the ability to see not only the beauty of the living, but the despair of the dead. When she returns to her childhood home in Henry Park Colorado, she is forced to bring along her younger brother Mitch. He is on a “break” from college where he was majoring in wine, women and song. If that isn’t enough they also have Mitch’s rambunctious beagle Luigi along who prefers to spend his days wallowing in junk food. When Gabby draws the death of a young woman before it happens, she knows she must tell someone and risk a new job and her professional credibility. Will she reveal her secret in time to save the woman in the water or will it be too late?

Review

From the beginning, I was absolutely riveted by this book. It was very hard to read this when I was at work (breaks and lunch) because I did NOT want to put it down and go back out to the public desks. Mind you, I love my job and most of the time I love being out on the desks and helping people. That’s why I went to library school, so I could be a reference librarian and help people find the information they need/want. I was just so riveted to this book that I didn’t want to put it down, though because of life it did take longer to read than something like this usually does.

I thought the characters were very well-rounded and surprisingly complex for this being only the first book in the series. Often times, when the book is the first in a new series, the author leaves some background out to release in the other volumes and the characters end up somewhat flat and two-dimensional. These characters, however, fully came to life in my head. I’m certainly looking forward to learning more about them in the next book(s) in the series.  I love all the side characters too, not just the main characters. Those add so much life to the book and the story. I had absolutely NO idea who the killer was until it was revealed and I love that in a mystery.

The setting descriptions were “just right” for me. There was enough detail that I could easily imagine the scene and yet I didn’t feel like the level of description was overwhelming and boring. Also, the setting sounds absolutely beautiful. I love living here in Michigan, but Henry Park, Colorado sounds like a beautiful place to live.

The plot line moved along at a pretty steady pace. As I said above, I had absolutely NO idea of who the killer was until the author revealed it. I tend to lose interest in a book if I know “who done it” early in the story line, so I was happy to be surprised.

I highly recommend this book to those who like cozy mysteries. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series to see where Gabby and Mitch lead us!

** I received a free ecopy of this book from the author. All opinions and conclusions are my own. **

About the Author

Teresa Trent lives in Houston, Texas and is an award-winning mystery writer.  She writes the Pecan Bayou Mystery Series, is a regular contributor to the Happy Homicides Anthologies. Teresa is happy to add her Henry Park Mystery Series to her publishing credits with Color Me Dead, the first book in the series. Teresa has also won awards for her work in short stories where she loves to dabble in tales that are closer to the Twilight Zone than small town cozies. When Teresa isn’t writing, she is a full-time caregiver for her son and teaches preschoolers music part-time. Her favorite things include spending time with family and friends, waiting for brownies to come out of the oven, and of course, a good mystery.

Author Links

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/teresatrentmysterywriter

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ttrent_cozymys

BLOG: https://teresatrent.wordpress.com/

WEBSITE: http://teresatrent.com

Thanks for stopping by today! If you want to visit more stops on the tour, the full schedule can be found below.

Tour Participants

January 23 – Valerie’s Musings – REVIEW

January 23 – Books,Dreams,Life – SPOTLIGHT

January 23 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

January 23 – Readeropolis – INTERVIEW

January 24 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT

January 24 – Books Direct – GUEST POST

January 24 – Community Bookstop – REVIEW

January 24 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

January 25 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 25 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW

January 25 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST

January 26 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW

January 26 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

January 26 – A Blue Million Books – INTERVIEW

January 26 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 27 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, INTERVIEW

January 27 – Jersey Girl Book Reviews – REVIEW

January 27 – Turning the Pages – REVIEW

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