Book 106, 2023

[chez_jae]

Town in a Wild Moose Chase by B.B. Haywood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I nearly finished my book at work today. Since I'll be out of the office until next Wednesday, I brought the book home to finish. It was Town in a Wild Moose Chase by BB Haywood, and it's the third in the "Candy Holliday" cozy mystery series. Narrative is in third-person, from the perspective of the main character, Candy Holliday.

Candy's small hometown, Cape Willington, is hosting its annual Moose Fest. Everyone is excited for the ice sculpture competition, the gala ball, and the Sleigh and Sled Parade. For Candy, the fest gets off to an ominous start when local recluse, Solomon Hatch, stumbles out of the woods behind Candy's house and claims to have found a body in the forest. By the time Candy calls 911, Solomon is gone, and there's no sign of a dead body in the woods. While puzzling things over, Candy still throws herself into the festival, both as a spectator and in her role as a reporter for the local paper. Eventually, the dead body is found, which leads to more questions than answers. It's going to take all of Candy's skills and smarts, some help from friends and an anonymous tipster, and a mysterious white moose to solve the mystery.

This was certainly interesting and mysterious--no pun intended. Sightings of the white moose lent an almost mystical air to things. It was fun to follow along with Candy as she explored leads and clues. I would have liked to see her doing more living and less investigating, however. Instead, the bulk of the plot was consumed with Candy's amateur sleuthing.

Favorite lines:
♦ "I always seem to keep missing out, don't I? Because it really would be fun, you know--tramping around the woods all day, freezing my toes off, looking for a crazy old hermit and a dead body, catching a cold, being bedridden for days or weeks, maybe dying of pneumonia. But, you know, good times."
♦ Few things in this world were more beautiful than a moonlit winter night.

Hark! Ye olde 'didn't realize I was holding my breath' line:
Candy realized she was holding her breath as she keyed the words into the search engine.

Some minor drawbacks, but very good over all. Four stars.