Title: Deadly Ride (A Britton Bay Mystery #3)
Author: Jody Holford
Published: 22 October, 2019
Publisher: Lyrical Underground
Readership: Adult
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: ★★★★
I received a copy of Deadly Ride from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Newspaper editor Molly Owens loves her new life—and her new man—in the beautiful seaside town of Britton Bay, Oregon. But when a car-show killer strikes, she needs to put the brakes on the culprit . . .
As editor-in-chief of the Britton Bay Bulletin, Molly steps in for a sick reporter to cover the Classic Car Crawl, an exhibit of vintage automobiles. Her main challenge is not being driven to distraction by the presence of her hunky boyfriend, Sam Alderich, a fellow car enthusiast whose auto shop is sponsoring the event. But when she and Sam discover the co-founder dead in his car, Molly quickly shifts gears to solve the murder.
With a showroom full of suspects—including the co-founder’s longtime partner, much-younger wife, enigmatic ex, and car owners with grudges and grievances—Molly soon starts to feel like she’s spinning her wheels. And after things take a turn for the worse, it’s all she can do to steer clear of trouble and stay out of a killer’s clutches . . .
It’s been over twelve months since I stumbled on the first book in the Britton Bay mystery series and I truly look forward to returning the characters and locations in these books.
Molly Owens, once a newcomer to Britton Bay, has settled into her life as a small town newspaper editor – she’s met and befriended the locals, found herself a charming boyfriend, a puppy she adores… and occasionally gets caught up in the occasional murder mystery that strikes the town. In the third instalment, she’s supporting her boyfriend, Sam, as he helps to host a classic car convention in town. It’s all going smoothly until one of the co-founders of the convention is found dead and the mystery begins.
I love Molly as a character – she’s calm and collected, while still being strong-willed enough to not back down when trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the murder in this story. This causes her to constantly clash with the local police force, including one of Sam’s best friends, but that only serves to highlight how much Molly has grown since the first book as much of the concern comes from other characters genuinely being concerned for her.
Molly and Sam have such a sweet relationship that every moment they were on the page together was just wonderful to read. Add to that the healthy relationship Molly has with his mother and you just enjoy being with all of these characters who care about one another.
The mystery was fun, with some twists and turns to keep you wondering whodunit up until the end. And while I’m not much of a car fanatic, even those parts of the story were interesting because we’re seeing it all through Molly’s eyes as she’s learning about the cars, too.
Overall, this was just a delightful read to while away a few hours. It certainly lives up to it’s ‘cozy’ mystery status.
Noveltea Corner 