The Prairie Grass Murders (Five Star Mystery Series)

Patricia Stoltey
Five Star (2007)
ISBN 9781594145414
Reviewed by Patti Yackulic for Reader Views (6/07)

Far too often readers of any genre become so attached to specific authors that they fail to notice up-and-coming authors who have incredible talent. Patricia Stoltey is one such who-done-it author, not to be dismissed.

When Willie Thorn embarked on a solo trek back to his childhood farm in Illinois, no one could possibly have predicted the impact that such a venture would have on both him and his sister, Palm-Beach-County-Florida-circuit court-judge Sylvia Thorn. Instead of Willie’s opportune encounter with a police officer, shortly after Willie stumbled across the dead remains of a male human, initiating a murder investigation, Willie (a Vietnam veteran discharged on medical grounds) is considered a delusional vagrant. Sylvia, coming to his aid, embroils the siblings in further intrigue, intrigue which not only spans the pairs’ time in Illinois, but follows them back to Florida.

Patricia Stoltey masterly commands her readers’ attention for each of page of her novel. Each attempt the reader devises to determine the culprit results in failure as Stoltey pens a new twist. Each twist elevates the readers’ curiosity and determination to solve the mystery. As the climax nears, readers are at a loss to predict Stoltey’s resolution, a resolution so clever that readers are left satisfied.

Far too often, I’ve been entertained by a mystery, which has been well-developed, only to be disappointed with an inadequate ending. As I was captivated with Stoltey’s twists and turns, I became concerned that I would, once again, feel unsettled as I closed the novel for the final time. Instead, Stoltey’s meticulous attention to detail, combined with her intricate plot development, ensured that I, and every other reader, would experience closure to her tale.

I’m confident that “The Prairie Grass Murders” will generate equivalent success in the novel domain as Stoltey has experienced in the short story genre. I, for one, anxiously await her next installment.

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