A MURDER IN ZION: A National Park Mystery, one of mystery-publishing monadnock Oceanview's better discoveries

A MURDER IN ZION: A National Park Mystery
NICOLE MAGGI
Oceanview Publishing (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$11.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Beautiful views, deadly encounters

Grief-stricken over her mother's death and bruised by her failure on her most recent case, Special Agent Emmeline Helliwell with the National Park Service returns to her Utah hometown to heal and regroup. She's determined to turn in her badge and take over her mother's bakery for a much quieter life . . . until the body of a childhood friend turns up in The Narrows of Zion National Park.

The case is too personal for Emme to turn down, but the seemingly simple investigation turns treacherous as clues that connect to her previous case grow too glaring to ignore. When bodies start to pile up, Emme must track down the killer before they take more lives, venturing deep into Zion National Park to uncover the sordid secrets hiding beneath its stunning beauty.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: If you've ever been to Zion National Park, this story will transport you there. Evoking its austere beauty in the kind of prose that feels the way the air of the park feels...clean, spare, slightly sage-scented...it will seep through your defenses to bring you right back: "The hard-packed rust-colored dirt crunched a bit beneath their feet, tall scrub brush and ponderosa pines reaching up toward the blue sky on either side of the trail. The red-rock cliffs rose alongside them, towering over the land below like a queen on a throne high above her subjects."

Now we move to the mystery bit: There's a lot of dark goins-on in Zion and environs featuring "...the Warriors for Armageddon, religious fanatics with multiple wives and too many guns," and if you're not now all set to dive in, I dunno what else to tell ya.

How about journalist Finn, working with FBI agent Claire to get the goods on the Armageddon cult looneys who everyone thinks murdered Emme's buddy Max? How about the archaeologist sister working in Tasmania, whose physical presence is required to settle their late mother's estate? Is Emme going to get to retire from being a Park Service cop and become a baker like her late mom? I haven't read her other series, "Twin Willows," but if she's on form there like she is here, I'll go get all the Nicole Maggi I can find.

The wonderful quality of a mystery series is its ability to help you feel Ma'at is restored, the guilty will answer for their crimes, and there's a community built around the crime-solver(s). I am glad to say this read did not drop even one of these balls in its execution.

I would offer more stars were it not for a somewhat thin veneer of villainy over the looney cultists...their looniness is their sole affect. I was also surprised that Emme was so unpleasant to her younger sister. It felt jarring for a woman who delayed/rescinded her law-enforcement retirement to solve her high-school friend's murder to be so angry...though doodness knows families breed anger at the best of times. It was not, clearly, a deal-breaker! I recommend the read.