Below Zero i another effective entry into the Jope Pickett series written by C.J. Box. Even if the plot is not the best idea, Joe Pickett and his family are too charming and interesting for me to mind that very much.

Joe Pickett is on temporary assignment as game warden some distance away from his beloved family. His daughter, Sheridan, starts receiving text messages from her former foster sister, April. The problem is that April was murdered six years ago and thought dead. Joe and Sheridan find enough information to begin their pursuit of whoever is sending these text messages. Another problem is that there seems to be connection to some deadly environmental crimes. A father and son who are traveling with a young teen-age girl are at the heart of all these questions. Joe is not sure if he is headed to a joyous and unexpected reunion or a heartbreak that will shatter his family.

I thought the plot was a sort of mediocre idea with a couple of villains I didn’t find all that interesting. The title refers to a debt that a former mobster believes he owes to his radical son who monitors carbon footprints and the like to justify his crimes committed in the name of protecting the planet.

Although I was anxious to determine if April’s supposed resurrection was the real deal, I was not that enthralled with the duo who may be in her company.

The chemistry within the Pickett family remains as engaging as ever, so the basic plot being a little lacking wasn’t too distracting.

Sheridan gets to accompany her father on an investigation, and there was something about that I found to be endearing. The children are growing up within Box’s world. The family banter was well-written as well.

Anyway, it’s an enjoyable, if flawed, enough of a novel. The suspense of what happened with April did keep me engaged.

As another novel comes to an end, a new one is on the verge of being explored. This time, my attention will turn to Marcia Muller’s The Dangerous Hour.

The Inmate is another implausible, yet strangely compelling, thriller from Freida McFadden.

A single mother named Brooke Sullivan has returned to her hometown with her son and moved into her recently deceased parents’ house. She gets a job as a nurse practitioner at a nearby prison where a murderous ex-boyfriend is incarcerated. Brooke reconnects with a childhood friend who was also almost killed by the seemingly sociopathic Shane Nelson. The strange reunion occurs, and Brooke has some reason to doubt her memories of that traumatic night eleven years earlier. Shane is in prison because of her courageous testimony, but Brooke is suddenly doubting herself, especially when another murder occurs.

The novel is written in first person from Brooke’s point of view and often alternates between the present day and eleven years earlier.

McFadden seems to; rely on quite a bit of coincidence as usual. Brooke’s judgment is kind of questionable, which is tempting for me to have limited sympathy. It then occurs to me that my judgment in romantic relationships hasn’t exactly been all that stellar either, although I have not been involved in any gruesome murders, just to be clear.

There are a few twists that are a little hard to buy into, but McFadden did manage to keep me interested in spite of my admittedly mild exasperation.

McFadden is an imaginative and pretty competent writer. I have no real objection to her prose style because the story does flow pretty easily.

In spite of my skepticism I experienced, I did like the novel overall. I am still kind of new to McFadden’s works, but I have enjoyed the few that I have read.

Next up is something which is complete nostalgic fluff. I have decided to try out one of the Murder, She Wrote novels which have been published for many years now. Jessica Fletcher has a new murder to solve while taking a trip down memory lane as she and Jon Land relate the events of A Time for Murder.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier is a gothic thriller first published in 1936 and reads a little easier than expected in spite of the typical lengthy exposition of its time.

The protagonist is Mary Yellan, a young woman whose mother has recently died. Mary is on her way to Jamaica Inn where she is to be reunited with her aunt. Aunt Patience is married to a man who is quote a brute and involved in some unsavory activities on the moors in Cornwall. Uncle Joss begins the new arrangement by bullying and intimidating Mary, who feels duty bound to remain at the inn to protect her aunt. Mary meets her uncle’s brother and becomes attracted to him against her better judgment. A peculiar vicar is also lurking around is may not be the ally he presents himself to be.

Mary gets a close look at what her uncle does to supplement his income and has even more reason to wonder how long she has before her life is on the line.

Du Maurier is best known for her novel Rebecca which was published later. She does have a distinctive eloquence in her prose, and I can appreciate how she became so respected.

The character of Joss Merlyn, the abusive uncle, comes across as a bit campy in his bluster. It got a little difficult at times to imagine him as authentic. The tension between Joss and Mary was quite compelling in any case.to read.

Du Maurier also does well with describing the hostile and oppressive environment surrounding the inn. Sometimes it seems to go on a little long, but one must also understand the time in which that was written and what was expected versus the short attention span of today’s audience.

This is a little bit of a departure from my usual reading interests, but I was glad to find this one.

Next up, I am taking on the Big Kahuna of the true crime genre. I am delving into the intricacies of the Charles Manson case as told by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry with Helter Skelter.