Overall I enjoyed reading this cozy mystery. Val is a New York fish out of water in Canada hoping to get a contract signed from a reclusive author. When she arrives she meets the locals and learns about an unsolved mystery. While tracking down the author she sets out to solve the mystery. The book did start slow for me and the reason for Val to investigate was weak. The end of the book moved along quickly and there were some surprises. I am looking for word to reading the next book in the series. Enjoy

The story revolves around Val who is sent to sign a reclusive author. Although there are a few mishaps like not taking the right articles for a wilderness journey. The book is an enjoyable read with intrigue which keeps you interested and wanting to know "who did it". The write rights in an ease that makes the book a great beach or back porch read on a lazy day.

Practical Sins for Cold Climates
A Val Cameron Mystery #1
Shelley Costa
Henery Press, January 2016
ISBN: 978-1-943390-41-0
Trade paperback

Val Cameron is a senior editor with a NY publisher in a bit of financial trouble. The story opens with Val on her way to Canada to persuade an author to sign a contract they hope will be lucrative. The Canadian island resort she lands in is nothing like she expects, or like her boss, who owns a house there, has indicated. Far from luxurious and barely accessible, she immediately runs into violence at a community meeting she attends, hoping to meeting her author. Everyone on the island has an agenda. Those who want to preserve the land as pristine wilderness. Those who want to exploit the island’s resources. Those who barely eke out a living and want jobs.

And worse, the first thing she discovers is an old, unsolved murder that overshadows everything and everyone to this day. Including the widower with whom Val immediately forms an attraction, and the author she’s been sent to find.

The book is well-written, well-plotted, and quite literary in texture, with plenty of twists and turns. These aren’t characters who immediately endeared themselves to me, but that’s not to say others will have the same reaction. I liked the setting and the ecological aspects of the story. I did wonder why, although the murdered woman was always on Val’s mind, after two years and the death going unsolved, nobody else seemed terribly concerned or anxious.

Reviewed by Carol Crigger, September 2016, for Buried Under Books.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this publication.