Hell and High Water by Keenan Powell ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

"A killer whale breached.  A full, flying through the air breach.  Black bullet body, white spots and a black dorsal fin erupted.  Sparking droplets geysered from the roiling gash it had torn in the steel-gray surface.  The monster hung in the air like a ballerina, and then rolled to one side, flopped and sank out of sight."  (p1)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

March 2020; Level Best Books; 978-1947915305
ebook, print (282 pages); mystery

I didn't realize that this was book 3 of a series until I started it.  I didn't have any problems reading it as a standalone but I think the dynamics of the main character would have been easier to understand if I had read the first two books.  I have just ordered them because I enjoyed getting to know Maeve who was a real multi-faceted and interesting main character and I'd like to know more about her background.

Maeve is an attorney in Alaska who doesn't think she wants to be a lawyer any longer.  She decides to spend the summer working in the kitchen at remote lodge in Alaska.  The people who run the lodge seem a bit strange and just as a huge storm is moving in, one of the guests is murdered.  The police can't get to the island because of the storm and ask Maeve to investigate.  With her cover blown, the owners and other guests are immediately suspicious of her.  She must work to find the killer, sort the lies from the truth, and the innocent from the guilty.

Hell and High Water is a quick read because you won't be able to put it down once you've started.  There are several major surprises scattered throughout the book and I never saw them coming!  Not only does the book have a murder and lots of suspicious characters but there is also a bear who seems to be intent to do harm to the humans on the island.  For me, the bear was almost more frightening than the murderer.

  

This was a wonderful, well-written mystery and I'm looking forward to reading the first two books in the Maeve Mallow Mystery series.

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NOTE:  This is book 3 in the Maeve Malloy series.  It can be read as a standalone but if you would like to read the series in order Book 1 is Deadly Solution and Book 2 is Hemlock Needle.

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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina with her husband of over 50 years.  She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. Since her travel plans had to be canceled for this year, she is starting to make plans for travel in 2021. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

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