Mysterious Valley

J. McGrath
Aaroncroft Publishing (2005)
ISBN 97809716072
Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (08/06)


“Mysterious Valley” is the second novel in the Maggie Goss mysteries by author J. McGrath.  His first Maggie Goss mystery “Murder at Sunset” was published in 2001.  I had not read the first mystery prior to reading “Mysterious Valley” and it did not matter because the author does a great job giving an overview of his prior novel. 

Maggie Goss and her friend Helen Washington decide to leave Belhaven, Mississippi while Maggie’s home is being rebuilt after it was blown up in “Murder at Sunset”.  They are both recuperating from terrible losses, the murders of Maggie’s twin sister and Helen’s mother and two children by professional killers in the first novel.  Maggie and Helen decide to take up residence in Davis, California for a much needed rest, or is it?  Maggie seems to have a “talent” for being in the right place at the wrong time.   

The problems begin for Maggie on her first cross-country flight. While taking flying lessons Maggie’s instructor pulls a surprise, engine-out emergency.  When Maggie tries an emergency landing at an old private airstrip in Mysterious Valley she is surprised when she is blinded by a brilliant green beam of light above the surface of the landing strip.  This gets her insatiable curiosity going about the laser beam and quickly leads herself and Helen into a world of devious plots, murder and terrorism. 

The story gets even more interesting when Maggie is referred to Dr. Chuck Hoppmann, a physicist, to learn more about lasers.  With Chuck, Helen finds romance for the first time in many years.  When Chuck builds a communication detection device that will help determine what the laser beam is for, the story heats up and Maggie, Helen and Chuck quickly become targets of assassins.  Maggie decides to call in the FBI agent, Frank Clavens, who helped her in “Murder at Sunset”.  He has now been promoted to Deputy Director of the FBI in Washington D.C and when he realizes what Maggie has stumbled into he quickly makes her an FBI operative.  This leads her straight into the center of a plot that becomes a national threat.

J. McGrath obviously did a lot of research for this book.  It pays off because “Mysterious Valley” is rich in detail about flying, lasers, military response, guns, FBI and my personal favorite, wineries.  His character Maggie Goss is just that - a “character”, a person you would definitely want to be on the right side of the law when around.  This is a great book for mystery lovers and I certainly hope that this is not the last we have heard of Maggie Goss!

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