Murder Capital of the World

The small town of Magnolia Bluff, in the hill county of Texas, is the murder capital of the world. Thank goodness it's fictional. 

The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a 27 volume series, set in the aforementioned town, by a group of talented writers known as the Underground Authors. Every book has a murder or two (or more) to solve. From the sounds of things, you can barely leave your house without stepping over a dead body.

A new entry in the series is called Catch a Tiger By the Toe, by Joe Congel. (Full disclosure: I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review). There are the requisite dead bodies in this one, little ones, and retired NYPD detective Brandon Turner has to team up with the local police force to catch the killer.

Congel weaves a disparate cast of characters. They are almost all three-dimensional and interesting, but  special mention must be made of the friction between Turner and his small-town counterpart, Detective Reece Sovern. The two do not like each other. No, they hate each other, and Congel wrings plenty of laughs out of their interplay. It's a miracle that one of them doesn't kill the other.

The funny parts are nice, and necessary. This is a tension-filled and gripping story with an edge-of-your-seat ending, told very well. If you like mysteries, you will love Catch a Tiger By the Toe. It is available everywhere starting on July 23rd.

This is Congel's fifth novel, and second set in Murderville.(Second Chances, last year). He gets better and more interesting each time, and is another example of how many skilled writers are out there waiting to be discovered.

Song of the Day, which has nothing to do with the above. It's just a cool song:

https://youtu.be/cmgfaMdF50A