Dear Fellow Reader,

I live in Wisconsin. We are currently playing peek-a-boo with spring. It is a long, tiresome game. We have had 70-degree days, and then this morning it was 34, and it snowed. Not that any of the snow stuck to the ground, but it is not exciting in April to look out the window and see the snow coming down so much that you can’t see across the street. The only thing to do is to know that the snow on the ground can’t last and that it will warm up.

And so I sit and look out my window and see the grey skies and think, I’ll write a book review for a book I really liked. Yes, I’m starting off with positivity. This book has good characters. They are not perfect by a long shot, but they are interesting.

As One Death at a Time opens, we meet Julia Mann, sitting on the side of a pool with her legs in the water. She is drunk, and one of her shoes is at the bottom of the pool. And there is a dead man in the pool. He was not dressed to go swimming. Nor was she sure who he was. And then there was the rifle, which she knew was out of place. She picked it up and threw it. Then she started to run.

We then meet Natasha Mason. Mason, as she is called, is attending her AA meeting. She has irritated one of the other members of the group, and he has started a small fire. Natasha is 25 and has striking features. You are given the impression that she and Jim spar frequently. When the fire debris is just about cleaned up, a woman walks into the meeting. The woman is about 60 and is beautifully dressed. Mason could tell that the other people in the room recognized the woman, and while she looked familiar to Mason, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. The woman indicated that she had relapsed and that she had a court card that needed to be signed by the group leader. Her name is Julia, and Julia does not want to talk. But after another attendee shares his story, Julia slowly tells of her arrest. Mason is fascinated by the story and the woman and volunteers to be her sponsor.

The next morning. Mason goes to Julia’s. Julia’s story is much more involved than Mason knew. Julia had been friends with Tony Eckenridge before she met her husband. Julia loved her husband. Tony, Julia, and Julia’s husband had all worked on the film Codex years ago. Codex was a bit of a cult classic, and there are rumors that it is going to be remade. Julia’s husband was murdered after the film was made, and while she didn’t kill him, she was convicted of the crime. Tony could have helped her, but he didn’t, and she hated him for that. While she was in jail, she sobered up and got her law degree so that she could help others. Tony, Julia, and Julia’s husband had all worked on the film Codex years ago. Codex was a bit of a cult classic, and there are rumors that it is going to be remade.

The story starts from there. Mason is hired to be Julia’s assistant, and she meets the others in Julia’s circle. Together, they work to find out what really happened to Tony. The first question being, why was Tony even at her house that night when they were enemies? And who did kill Julia’s first husband?

The characters are quirky and fun, and there are a lot of them. I thought the book’s tangled story lines were straightened out in almost believable ways. There is a lot that goes on in this story and I enjoyed it. I recommend that you read this book.

Thanks for reading.