The Scarecrow Murders

Mary Welk writes the way we live! I love words, and her descriptions and prose set the scenes so well, it's as if you are a part of the story. I especially liked the language between Carolyn and her son in this story. The mystery moves along quite well, and once I got started reading I didn't want to stop for bed. This is the first of Ms. Welk's books that I've read, but not for long.

As author of the Caroline Rhodes mysteries, Mary V. Welk garnered a unusual variety of accolades, including finalist in the 1996 Hemingway First Novel competition and a 2000 Readers' Choice Award for Best First Mystery for A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. Her SOMETHING WICKED IN THE AIR received a Readers' Choice Award in 2002 as Best Traditional Mystery. She has been reviewed by the Chicago Sun Times, Mystery Scene Magazine, Romantic Times Magazine, and many others. Rhineburg, Illinois boasts a terrible college football team with an unusually hot-headed coach; a college president who is desperate for money; a small town banker with dubious business practices; and Caroline Rhodes, ER and college nurse, part-time sleuth, and soon-to-be grandmother. All of these paths collide when the football team and a rodeo fight over the new stadium. Equipment clad football players engage in fights at the local brew pub, which escalates into a gender picket line, with the men on one side in favor of the team and the ladies on another in favor of the rodeo. When a particularly nasty football player is found dead in a bull pen and Caroline's son Martin is the primary suspect, she puts her sleuthing talents to work, utilizing her friend Carl the college history professor and some of the town's most interesting characters. Of course this all happens during Halloween, to set a scene of goblins and mayhem: "'I lost my hat in the wind,' Carl grumbled. 'I didn't want my head to get soaked, so I put on the Halloween mask I bought to scare the kids with.' Half way out of his jacket, he stopped to eyeball the nine women huddled around the table. They were staring at him as if he'd gone completely mad. 'Hey! I'm not the only crazy one around here,' he bellowed, gesturing at the outfits they were wearing. 'Take a look at yourselves in the mirror. At least I had a good reason to look foolish.'" Mary Welk's folksy, yet well-crafted style of writing makes this a first-rate mystery. She develops an unusual and interested plot, includes plenty of well-defined characters, and her use of language and circumstance all add up to an griping tale with bulls and bull-headed men running around everywhere. Caroline is a no-nonsense sleuth with lots of personality. Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer

A clever mystery which takes place in a town divided by the coming of a rodeo on Homecoming weekend. Tempers flare, ER nurse, Caroline Rhode's son is a prime suspect in the murder of the college football hero and she needs to get to the bottom of it. Characters are so well done they make you angry at their actions at times. The clues are there for you if you can pick up on them and you find yourself surprised at times. Totally enjoyable!

The fourth in the Caroline Rhodes series finds the part-time ER nurse smack dab in the middle of a feud between the college football team and a group of female rodeo riders. Caroline's son is on the football team and has several run-ins with one of the players who ends up dead. It doesn't help that Martin doesn't have an alibi. Caroline has become a bit of an Icon in Rhineburg, Illinois. Not only do more residents note that crime had been on an upswing since Caroline's arrival, but they also know who to turn to when the crime needs solving. Carl, Caroline's trusted friend and a history professor, is back assisting with philosophical rhetoric and good common sense. Although this is a cozy that can be read any time of the year, the fact that it takes place during Halloween should encourage one to nudge it up on your TBR pile for a cozy fall read.

I was looking for something to entertain me, and The Scarecrow Murders did just that.The storyline is believable, the characters are likable, and the setting is great. Can you imagine someone wanting to hold a rodeo on a college football field when there's a big game coming up? But there's a lot more to the people involved than meets the eye. Mary Welk has done a great job bringing these two worlds together. And Caroline, the no-nonsense protagonist, will keep you on your toes.I'm looking forward to reading more from Mary Welk.