Unraveling Secrets in I Shall Not Want

In case you have not yet read last week’s blog post: check out Celebrating Autistic Identity and observe Autism Acceptance Month by embracing neurodiversity and promoting inclusion for individuals with ASD. Shift perspectives and advocate for autistic rights. Read some autism/neurodiversity positive books!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I Shall Not Want is book number six in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mysteries series. I have not read the other books in the series, but have had enough information in this episode to read it as a stand alone. It is a good thriller and I would be inclined to read any of the other books int he series.

The characters are unique and well-developed. The mystery has been suspenseful and twisty, and they are getting close to solving it. And there is a strong romantic subplot for those who are looking for it.

Three — well, four, now — murders is certainly enough to grab anyone’s attention. What is going on in this small community that they have not figured out until now?

I have to confess, I am not fond of a flash-forward prologue. The book starts with a high-octane shootout scene, but it’s unclear what is happening or how the characters got there. Then, with a man dying on the ground, the reader is thrown back into the “six months previous” main storyline, with no explanation of how the gunfight…