Mama Rides Shotgun

May 15, 2009
A family trip to the Florida Cracker Trail to honor the past becomes a hunt for a clever murderer.

Mace Bauer and her much-married Mama head off on horseback as part of a large group following the trail cowboys once used to move cattle to market. When Mace and Mama stumble upon the body of wealthy rancher Lawton Bramble, who's provided land for an overnight stop, Doc Abel proclaims it a heart attack, but Mace has a feeling it may have been poison in the chili he was brewing. Lawton's much younger wife Wynonna puts on a pretty good show of grief; his daughter Belle appears devastated; and his son Trey stays drunk. Though Trey was Mace's high-school crush, her heart still belongs to Miami Detective Carlos Martinez, who returned to Miami after the case in which Mace's Mama was chief suspect (Mama Does Time, 2008). Mace's life goes into overdrive when her sisters, Maddie and Marty, Mama's fianc, Sal, and Carlos all join the trail ride. Trey becomes amorous, his ex-fiance Austin enraged and Carlos jealous. The obligatory pranks escalate from a ripped tent to a rattlesnake to a runaway horse. Mace maintains her tough shell even though Mama advises her to be more of a clinging vine to win back Carlos. Both of them, however, are more interested in catching a murderer before Mace becomes another victim.

Stephanie Plum goes into the backwoods in an amusingly wild ride through parts of Florida tourists rarely visit.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2009
Mama Rosalee and middle daughter Mace are on the Florida Cracker Trail for the annual six-day commemorative horse ride across the state. The idea is for them to have some bonding time before Rosalee marries her fifth husband. Mama also hopes to do a little matchmaking for independent Mace. Both ladies are having a great time before an old rancher boyfriend of Mamas dies of an apparent heart attack while preparing his Cow Hunter Chili for the trail riders. Mace is suspicious, while everyone else seems resigned to the death. After Maces tent is ripped open with a knife, and her horse runs straight onto a busy highway after being flicked with a cow whip, Maces sisters and former beau, detective Carlos, decide to join the ride to help protect Mace, who may have figured out something someone doesnt want her to know. Sharp writes a funny mystery without resorting to stereotypical one-note characters. Furthermore, her descriptions of a part of Florida most of us know little about add to the appeal of this entertaining mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)