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Patricia K. Batta has been a reader and writer all her life. She began the Marge Christensen Mystery Series after early retirement and expects to spend the second half of her life reading and writing on a full time basis. She does hope to save enough time for family, church, friends, walking, and traveling.
Reviewed by Paul Johnson for Readers' Favorite
Marge Christensen finds her husband, Gene, dead in their garage, slumped over the steering wheel of his still running BMW. Since Gene had recently learned of a terminal illness, the police rule the death a suicide, but Marge isn’t ready to believe Gene killed himself. Something is wrong. Over the last few months prior to his death, Gene’s activities were completely out of character. And what about all the missing money? Marge is determined to get answers. With perseverance and some basic sleuthing, Marge begins to learn the truth in spite of the doubts and repeated concerns from the police, her two adult children, and her hovering, obsessively attentive neighbors. After a time, small pieces began to fall into place and the mystery begins to unravel. But at what costs?
The initial plot development takes some time since it is filled with day to day activities but is well laid out in a good, smooth yet methodical mystery format. You can sense there’s more going on than meets the eye. The characterization is very good. The author has chosen a well diverse group of characters, from the grieving widow, to her over-protective children, to her friendly but nosy, overly eager to help neighbors. Add to that a suspicious lawyer and a daughter-in-law that clearly dislikes her, and Marge’s transition is anything but easy. The dialogue is very well written. The reader can instantly get a ‘feel’ for each character. I enjoyed the story and feel it will do well with its target audience.
