Keep up the good work, mayor.

Cold Hollow is a pleasant little town visited, and loved, by tourists. But beneath the surface it is not quite all it appears to be and it's relatively peaceful life is threatened by the arrival of two men, one the brother of a resident who had recently died in a fire, the other his bulky servant, Ivan. Samuel had come to take his sister's remains home to New York - and to take revenge on those Cold Hollow inhabitants he believed had murdered her.

Of course, he was right. His sister's death had not been a natural one. But then, most of the permanent residents of Cold Hollow were far from 'natural'. From Myrna, the mayor to the lady who ran the pastry shop, they all had secrets in their past, some of these secrets even still held from the other members of this affectionate 'family' of citizens. And everyone in this tight knit group of the "pleasantly corrupt town" was in agreement: Samuel had to be "handled."

Emilie J.Howard's, The Butcher, is the last in the Cold Hollow series and, although completely stand alone, is definitely enhanced with familiarity of the somewhat bizarre locals and their previous histories. The delightful characterisations are given even greater depth and life with J.Scott Bennett's excellent narration and his very pleasantly accented voice delivers the text flawlessly with perfect pacing, understanding and intonation. A great symbiosis of author and narrator.

Essentially, this book has everything: well written with extremely interesting characters, humour, sometimes with laugh out loud moments, emotion, mystery, and a rattling good story all read superbly. A fitting end to a most enjoyable and unexpected series. Try it and see.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!