Wednesday, January 20, 2010

8 - The End of the Road; Sue Henry

The End of the Road: (A Maxie and Stretch Mystery); Sue Henry










Maxie McNabb is an retired widow who lives in beautiful Homer, Alaska with her miniature dachshund Stretch. Maxie is known to travel the US in her RV when the weather gets too cold for her in Alaska. She is always accompanied by her faithful companion Stretch.

One day while walking her dog in the now deserted tourist town, she comes across a lone tourist, a friendly man, who is staying at a local motel.  Maxie offers to give the man, John Walker, a ride back to his motel, and invites him to dinner to meet some of her friends --he accepts.  The following day John Walker is found dead in his motel room, a suspected suicide.  Maxie's name is found in the man's room and so the police come to question her. Everyone soon learns that the man carried no ID and is not who he claimed to be. Everyone seems to be at a loss as to why this man was in Alaska alone, and why he is now dead?

MY THOUGHTS - The End of the Road is the fourth book in the Maxie and Stretch series.  It is not necessary to read the other books first, but in this case I would recommend it.  I liked the other books in this series, by Sue Henry, but this one left me scratching my head.  Why?  How many elderly women would befriend a complete stranger and give him a ride, and invite him to dinner?  Even the resolution to this mystery was "over the top" and rushed.  If you'd like to read a fun mystery by this author I'd recommend starting with her earlier books in this series: The Serpent's Trail or The Tooth of Time. Rating - 2/5  (Library copy)

11 comments:

  1. There's always a weak book in a series and it sounds like this is the one in this one. Sorry it didn't work for you.

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  2. Guess I don't have to feel guilty about skipping this one. I agree the plot does sound highly implausible & foolhardy if true.

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  3. Bermudaonion took the words right out of my mouth! :D

    Thanks for your well written review.

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  4. So gonna pass on this one. You're right...no woman in her right mind would do that, let alone an elderly woman!!

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  5. My mom has a mini dauchschaund so maybe I'll recommend this series to her to try ... but not this one though!

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  6. LOLOL! I shouldn't laugh at the big red thumb, but I couldn't help it when I saw it. Love the thumb rating. Gives the viewer a quick look at how you feel.

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  7. My wife reads all of these. Some are better than others, for sure.

    Bill ;-)

    Hope you'll check out my book giveaway:
    http://drbillsbookbazaar.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-giveaway-plum-pudding-murder.html

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  8. "Into a series a lousy one must fall." I just made that up so I couldn't be accused of bermudaonion theft.

    I think this is the first thumb down I've come across since I've been following you. So that's what it looks like.

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  9. You have a fun blog - so I gave you an award - it's over on my blog, cheers!

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  10. The premise sounds interesting, but I was wondering myself about how realistic it would be for an older lady to pick up a man while traveling by herself.

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  11. Sorry you didn't like this one very much. It's always a disappointment to me when a favorite author comes out with a book I just can't get into.

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