Murder on the Rocks (Mack's Bar Mysteries, #1)

by Allyson K Abbott

Macks Bar is one of those nice friendly places where everybody knows your name. Thats great when someones buying you a round but not so hot when you find yourself at the top of a list of murder suspects with your fingerprints on the bloody knife! Mackenzie Mack Dalton is a Milwaukee bar owner with a nose for trouble literally. A neurological glitch has left her with extra perceptive senses. So when she stumbles upon a dead body in the alley behind the bar the same spot where her own father was shot eight months earlier she can tell right away there's something fishy in the air. The lead detective thinks theres a link between the two deaths and he'll need Macks help to sniff out the murderer amid the crowd of eccentric regulars. But when all the evidence points to her as the most likely culprit it could be an early last call for Mack and celebratory cocktails for a killer.

• ISBN10: 1306678366
• ISBN13: 9781306678360
• Publish Date: 1 January 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 19 May 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

4.5 stars. Excellent start to a series that could be a lot of fun. That half star? Only because I'm not a huge fan of the bar setting - it brings to mind that nasty, dingy atmosphere that smells like beer, smoke, and the sickly sweet smell of drunks. Blech.

BUT, one can see the potential in such a setting and Ms. Abbott does an excellent job building her little world-within-the-bar with likeable, engaging characters. And I genuinely love the twist of Mack's neurological condition: synesthesia, the condition where the afflicted's senses are cross-wired so they can taste sounds, or see smells, for instance. It's rare to stumble across a new idea in cozy mysteries, and this is definitely a new idea - I can't wait to see what the author is going to do with this in future books.

The plot combined the un-solved case of her father's murder with the more recent dead body Mack finds behind the bar. I love how it ended and that's all I can say without giving anything away. The tie-in with Capone legends was great fun! I must admit I had it down to two suspects and the one I favoured was the killer at the end, but honestly, guessing right did not diminish this book for me one little bit. I did not want to put this book down until it was done, and then I wanted to read more.

An engaging, fast-paced, well-written book that wasn't ever bogged down by internal dialogue rambles, "let's make a list of the suspects" or any of those other filler-devices so many author's use lately. I found it a genuine joy to read and I'll be eagerly awaiting the second book.