Balloons can be Murder (A Charlie Parker Mystery)

I picked up this mystery right before my cross country flight - It was so much fun to read, I totally neglected the DVD player I'd brought along for the trip. Shelton had my attention from the first chapter and held on to it. This was the first of the Charlie Parker series I've read, and I had no trouble getting to know the characters - I really loved "meeting" Charlie.

Connie Shelton uses the Albuquerque Balloon Festival as the setting for her latest Charlie Parker Mystery. Charlie is approached by Rachael Fairfield to find out who is sending her threatening notes. Rachael has a theory that it might be her own father because her testimony caused him to serve a jail term which recently ended. Rachael is attempting to break the record for the highest balloon flight by a woman, so she is in the news, which causes Charlie to worry even more about her safety. Besides Rachael's father there are several other suspects who would have a reason to harm her. Charlie reluctantly leaves her husband Drake in order to travel to Albuquerque and carry on an investigation with her brother Ron. Before it's all over, Charlie and Rachael's lives are both threatened. The books in this series seem to get better and better, and this one is definitely recommended reading.

Just prior to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, balloonist Rachel Fairfield hires RJP Investigations to keep her safe while she tries to set an altitude record in three days. Rachel shows sleuth Ron Parker and his sister Charlie two threatening letters that she received in the last couple of weeks. She insists her estranged father William sent the notes because her testimony sent him to prison when she was a teen and the wording is his. Ron explains that his agency is too small to protect her from an assassin amidst a crowd of 50,000, but the client says to just keep an eye on her dad, recently released form prison. Charlie, whose marriage to firefighting helicopter pilot Drake Langston has problems, looks into alternative threats of which there are two possibilities, an abusive former lover and a person accusing her of costing him his inheritance while Ron looks into William's activities. Neither Parker expected the incidents to turn increasingly dangerous towards their client nor themselves, as someone is trying to insure that Rachel fails at all costs. The latest Charlie Parker case is a fabulous private investigative thriller that also contains a powerful subplot centering on the heroine's estranged relationship with her spouse as both fails to communicate what disturbs them. The protection of Rachel is intriguing as the Parkers know they cannot keep her safe if she is going airborne during the gala, but try their best to watch the known threats. Connie Shelton brings the air balloon rave and its New Mexico locales alive as fantastic backdrop to this enchanting thriller. Harriet Klausner