No Accounting for Murder

Rating:
Summary: Mystery of the Year
Review: Don't pick this up before bedtime, as I did, because you won't be able to put it down til you're done. Suzanne--an accountant turned sleuth--is one of the most enticing characters in print and is likely to charm us again in future adventures.

The characters are diverse, and many are quickly suspect as the possible murderer of Margaret, a wealthy, elderly woman who is/was gullible and susceptible to maniputlation of the most devious kind. She also is a character with scandalous secrets in her past. Once Suzanne is convinced Margaret was murdered, Suzanne herself becomes a target who must be stopped.

The town's deputy sheriff has a romantic interest in Suzanne, which complicates her sleuthing and adds a whole new dimension to the story.

Should be a candidate for Best Mystery By a New Writer.

Rating:
Summary: Great plot twists
Review: I don't usually read mysteries but I loved No Accounting for Murder. I couldn't put it down. It's a fast read, the characters are engaging and real. The plot's twists and turns keep you guessing. Very well done, and very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Linkhart has a winner!
Review: Move over Edna Buchanan, James Patterson and Sue, the alphabet lady, there's a new kid on the block by the name of Shirley Linkhart.
Better clear a time slot for reading this one ... you REALLY CAN'T put it down. She grabs you on the first page and doesn't let go. It's a mystery, it's exciting and it's fun.
My copy is making the rounds of the neighborhood and everyone is loving it.

Rating:
Summary: No Accounting For Murder
Review: Suzanne McTavish is the divorced, attractive, fifty something local version of H&R Block in the small logging town of Barkerville, located in the mountains above Eugene, OR. She does the taxes for everyone in town from mill workers to millionaires, or at least the town's one millionaire, Margaret Teasdale. When Margaret turns up dead...murdered...in the middle of Suzanne trying to finsih her tax return, and Suzanne is paid a visit by Maria, the deceased woman's maid, who secretly gives her five handwritten journals authored by Margaret that reveal the life, and lies behind the client Suzanne only thought she knew, she begins looking into Margaret's death and is rewarded with an anonymous and chilling phone call on her answering machine at home: "MIND..YOUR..OWN..DAMN..BUSINESS!" Fortunately for us, Suzanne chooses not to mind her own business and what follows is a tightly written first mystery novel by local Grants Pass, OR author Shirley Linkhart. "No Accounting For Murder" is a good read filled with multiple murder suspects, a growing love interest between Suzanne and her real estate salesman friend and long time admirer, John, and an investigation which ranges from the high desert country near Bend, OR to the remote Pacific beaches of northern California. As a surprise bonus, the author has included the first two chapters of the "prequel" to this novel, "White Water Bar & Grill", one page after "No Accounting For Murder" ends! "White Water" takes us back in time to when Suzanne was 21 and living with her alcoholic and abusive husband, Jimmy, in Barkerville after being married to him for three years. I wasn't going to read these two chapters but I did, and was immediately hooked, fascinated by the "young" Suzanne. Now I am going to have to buy "White Water Bar & Grill" when this author has her next local book signing. "No Accounting For Murder" is a good read, and you will never look at another 1040 Form in quite the same way again after you've finished it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun!
Review: This is a fun book with an unlikely sleuth. Lots of plot twists, and a nice, healthy dose of simmering lust to boot. And even that has its own plot twist. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun!
Review: This is a real page-turner! Every time I thought I had a handle on who did the deed, the plot took another twist. Riveting, with a colorful cast of characters. A must read for any fan of mystery.

Rating:
Summary: No Accounting for Murder
Review: This is a real page-turner! Every time I thought I had a handle on who did the deed, the plot took another twist. Riveting, with a colorful cast of characters. A must read for any fan of mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Great plot twists
Review: Who would think an accountant could be a riviting detective? I'm glad the author thought so and brought her to life. The characters in the story are both believable and the protagonists are likable. The plot never sags and I found it difficult to put down.