Bittersweet
A China Bayles Mystery
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4.4 • 16 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
New from the author of Death Come Quickly and Widow's Tears
This Thanksgiving, be grateful for China Bayles—who teams up with an old friend to solve a complex case of theft and murder in a South Texas ranching community…
It’s Thanksgiving in Pecan Springs, and China is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother’s husband, Sam, who are enthusiastically embarking on a new enterprise—turning their former game ranch into a vacation retreat for birders. She’s also looking forward to catching up with her friend, game warden Mackenzie “Mack” Chambers, who was recently transferred to the area. But Leatha calls with bad news: Sam has had a heart attack.
How will Leatha manage if Sam can’t carry his share? She does have a helper, Sue Ellen Krause. But China discovers that Sue Ellen, who is in the process of leaving her marriage to the assistant foreman at a large trophy game ranch, is in some serious trouble. Before Sue Ellen can tell China the full story, her car veers off a deserted road and she is killed.
Meanwhile, when a local veterinarian is shot in what appears to be a burglary at his clinic, Mack Chambers believes his murder could be related to fawns stolen from a nearby ranch. As Mack follows the trail, China begins to wonder if Sue Ellen’s death may not have been an accident, and if there’s a connection to the stolen animals. But their search for the truth may put their own lives in danger…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Albert addresses some big social and political problems in her entertaining 23rd mystery featuring herbalist China Bayles (after 2014's Death Come Quickly). China and her family are planning to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, Lethea, and stepfather, Sam Richards, in Texas's Uvalde County. When Sam suffers a heart attack, Lethea persuades China not to cancel the visit. On arrival, China starts worrying about helping her mother, but she soon has other concerns, including the havoc caused by invasive foreign plants and the privacy issues presented by drone technology. The big money involved in deer hunting, however, looms over everything else. Some ranchers have turned their properties into specialized resorts where wealthy guests can shoot bucks bred to have enormous antlers. Opponents call them "canned hunts." It's a subject fraught with political implications and the shooting death of a veterinarian may be related. Hunky deputy sheriff Ethan Conroy, a distinctive character in his own right, lends assistance in one of China's more memorable adventures.
