Book Review: Murder on the Interstate by Jean Henry Mead

Murder on the Interstate cover Title: Murder on the Interstate
Author: Jean Henry Mead
Paperback: 270 pages
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Publisher: Oak Tree Press (April 29, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1610090144
ISBN-13: 978-1610090148
Reviewed by Earl Staggs
www.earlwstaggs.wordpress.com

About the Book:

Two feisty 60-year old women sleuths encounter murder, homegrown terrorism, kidnapping and disasters as they travel Arizona in their motorhome. The third novel in the Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series, Murder on the Interstate will leave you breathless.

Review:

I don’t expect an amateur sleuth novel to start fast. I expect to spend time getting to know the protagonist, then get a feel for the setting, and maybe get to know another character or two before the story begins to move forward. That doesn’t happen in MURDER ON THE INTERSTATE. Jean Henry Mead kicks it off in high gear and doesn’t slow down. This is the kind of novel I enjoy.

Dana Logan, behind the wheel of her motorhome, makes her way carefully along I-40 in Arizona on a rainy night with her best friend Sarah Cafferty asleep in the passenger seat. A sporty Mercedes convertible speeds past, with a large dark red pickup truck close behind it. Dana wonders why they’re going so fast and if the second car is chasing the first one. Around the next curve, she sees the convertible off the road and down a bank. She climbs down to investigate and finds a young woman dead inside. She hears gunshots and hurries back to check on Sarah. Sarah is okay, but the pickup is parked behind the motorhome and the driver has shot up the rear tires. The driver may have planned on shooting Dana and Sarah, too, but an eighteen-wheeler pulls up and he races away.

The driver of the rig is a large woman known as Big Ruby. After they call 911, Ruby volunteers to take Dana and Sarah into Flagstaff, or “Flag,” as the truckers call it, where they’ll be able to get someone to replace the tires on the motorhome. When they pull into a truck stop, they spot the dark red pickup as it speeds back onto the highway.  The chase is on. Ruby contacts other truckers on her CB and enlists their aid in keeping track of the killer. Truckers have their own language, and there were some fun conversations tossed back and forth between the over-the-road drivers.

Before their trip was interrupted, Dana and Sarah, both sixty years old, were on their way from Sacramento to Wyoming. Dana’s late sister left her an elegant mansion there, and they plan to make it their home. Back in Sacramento, the pair found themselves involved in several murder cases. Now they consider themselves amateur sleuths, or “murder magnets,” as Walter Grayson calls them. Walter is a Sheriff they knew back in California. Walter is also in love with Dana and wants to marry her.

They learn the murder victim was Lori Murphy, a twenty-seven-year old woman who has only been married for two months. From there, the chase takes many roads and many turns, with Dana and Sarah chasing the killer, who also seems to be chasing them. Walter arrives to help and so does Dana’s daughter, Kerrie, a newspaper journalist in Denver. They soon learn Lori Murphy’s death was only the tip of an iceberg, and every time they turn up a new lead, they find several more.  There are more bad guys than originally thought, and they’re caught up in something much larger than the Interstate murder of a young wife.

I won’t describe all they go through. That would rob you of the opportunity to experience along with them the dangers Dana and Sarah face. I will tell you that before it’s over, there is more shooting, more bodies, and some large explosions as the people behind the whole thing try to kill Dana, Sarah and Kerrie to keep them from finding out who they are and what they’re up to. There’s a suspense-filled ending to a well-plotted and well-written mystery.


One Response to “Book Review: Murder on the Interstate by Jean Henry Mead”

  1. Jean Henry Mead says:

    Thanks, Earl, for a great review. Dana and Sarah thnk you too. 🙂

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