If, like me, you have a family member who runs for sport,
you might enjoy giving them this book for Christmas. FIRST
DEGREE MUDDER set in the Pacific Northwest
which is also
the title of the cosy crime series, follows training for a
mud run. In her fourth outing, young journalist and
amateur sleuth Meg Reed is in Portland, Oregon. She's
hoping to get fit, lose a few pounds and take part in a
race for Northwest Extreme magazine.
Rebelling against the onset of computer-generated stories,
facing being laid off as the magazine goes digital, the
journalist Meg grabbed her chance to participate in a
lengthy, muddy obstacle course race. She needed some boot
camp training first. Now at a converted historic barracks,
Meg discovers her solidly-built trainer Billy dead on the
floor. We get a look at the training they have all been
doing, and several trainees probably wanted to kill Billy
the somewhat bullying instructor. But did someone really
get out of hand, or was it natural causes? Or maybe an
accident, around all these adrenalin junkies. The
indications are that Billy was strangled, though who would
do it Meg can't imagine. Still, she's on the scene, so
she'll cover the story. But she's not the only journalist
in town. And she's still got a race to run.
The other characters include Jenny, working hard to lose
the baby weight she gained a few years ago, Jill, Meg's
best friend who has just been offered an art college place
in Italy, and Dylan, the natural foods side of the training
camp. Kelsey Kain is an athletic studio journalist who is
taking the course too, annoying people by interviewing them
while running. Tim is a businessman doing the run to please
his wife. Matt is a serious technology journalist,
disillusioned with stories that are no more than clickbait
headlines to grab a few seconds of readers' attention.
Kenny is a handsome cop eager to see more of Meg, even if
she does wear pink a lot. Portland itself is a major
character, with vivid descriptions of Meg's sorties to
coffee bars, food markets, film locations and rugged
scenery. As this is a few books in to a series, we also see
the ongoing saga of Meg's family, but I assure you a new
reader can just jump in and enjoy the tale. At the end we
get guidelines on getting fit. FIRST DEGREE MUDDER by Kate
E Dyer-Seeley is an unconventional and interesting mystery
which will appeal to all those who know there's more to
life than watching TV.
When a mud marathon champion bites the dust, Meg Reed has
to go the distance to make sure a killer comes clean . . .
Back home in Portland, Oregon, Meg is ready to take her
career as an outdoor writer for Extreme magazine to
the next level. Lesser journalists sling mud—Meg plans to
run through it. To train hard for Mud, Sweat & Beers, an
extreme 5K mud run, she’s signed on with the Mind Over
Mudder team, run by ten-time mud marathon champ—and former
drill sergeant—Billy the Tank. But when Meg finds her
tenacious trainer dead in the locker room, she has a sinking
feeling someone may have been pushed too far. Digging
through the hidden secrets at Mind Over Mudder is a dirty
job, but somebody’s got to do it. Meg will have to tread
carefully, though—or she may soon be running for her life . . .
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