In a perfect summertime mystery, Zoelle Jones invites us to explore the Happy Camper store she runs in Spirit Canyon, South Dakota. While the shop isn’t quite a goldmine, someone here is MINING FOR MURDER.
Maynard Cline, a well-off man who doesn’t like being near other people’s germs, but is otherwise pleasant, is the purchaser of a rare book. This personal memoir of the town harks back to the days of gold prospectors. Some genuine legends of lost treasure in the Black Hills are revived and might be a motive for the crime. But a possible theft goes too far, and Zo finds Maynard dead near his hilltop home. The book is nowhere to be found.
All kinds of people wanted that book, My Journey West. Book lovers, historians, librarians, family tree researchers. Zoelle, called Zo, was hoping to find some information about her family, as she only knows that her mother, an actress, left her at the police station in town in her baby clothes before going missing. Now her opportunity is gone – but it’s not one she would kill for. Who could have been sufficiently desperate?
I found a nice variety of townsfolk throughout MINING FOR MURDER by Mary Angela. Zo nips around on her red motorbike. Her boyfriend Max is a Park Ranger and has just kicked his roomie Duncan out, so tension arises as Zo considers moving in with Max. She’s not good at depending on others. Jules Parker, who loves wine and claims psychic powers, is putting in a bid for the house in the same estate sale as the book. Hattie Fines, head librarian, accompanied Zo when she discovered the death, which is a reasonable alibi for both of them. Jeffrey Davis, chair of the college history department, is distraught when he learns the book is gone. Police chief Brady Merrigan, who keeps (quite rightly) telling former journalist Zo to stop investigating, somehow had his surname written on a note left by the deceased.
I learned a lot about the gold rush in the Black Hills, a stone called the Thoen Stone, which was carved with details of a treasure that nobody has yet found, and more. I also think Spirit Canyon sounds like a great place for tourists and locals alike. If you want to visit Mount Rushmore, camp in the mountains, or go birding, you’ll probably call into stores just like Happy Camper. MINING FOR MURDER is the third mystery in the aptly titled Happy Camper series by Mary Angela, and I can imagine a progression through the seasons. Murder mystery or not, this town likes adventure.
Zo Jones is enjoying the sunny season at her Happy Camper gift shop in Spirit Canyon, South Dakota—when a murder reminds her all that glitters isn’t gold . . .
The South Dakota Gold Rush might be long over, but Zo Jones feels like she’s hit the mother lode when she and her friends browse an estate sale, where a rare old book about the history of Spirit Canyon is causing quite a commotion. In addition to local stories and secrets, the book may even contain the location of a famous stash of gold—a treasure worth killing for.
Zo’s friend Maynard Cline wins the bid on the book, to the chagrin of many interested parties, including the historical society and college history department. But when Zo and Hattie head to Maynard’s mansion to borrow the book for a library event, the only thing they find is Maynard—at the bottom of the mountain. The valuable book is gone. Zo knows this must be murder because there’s no way a germophobe like Maynard would have voluntarily dived into a pile of dirt. Now she’ll have to dig into a new case, and go prospecting for a perpetrator . . .
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