Dinner at Deadmans by CJ West REVIEW/ PICT VBTours

Synopsis:

Lorado Martin has loved junk since his grandparents took him bottle digging in the backwoods of New England when he was a boy. The search for antiques and collectibles led him to a unique hobby: digging through the estates of the newly deceased, arranging the sale of goods for the heirs, and keeping the leftovers for himself. To make a living he builds and maintains housing for recovering addicts and along the way he’s employed a number of his clients. The men wrestle with the siren call of drugs and teach Lorado about the difficult struggle to stay clean one day at a time. When these two worlds come together, Lorado learns that not every elderly person dies of natural causes and that some estates are sold to benefit a killer. His latest project hits close to home. A woman he’s known since childhood haunts him from a fresh grave. Her grandson, an affable addict who has fallen off the wagon, stands to inherit a considerable sum whether he deserves it or not.

My Review:

I am starting to be able to concentrate and and focus on what I read once more.   Thank Goodness!  Hopefully we are on the right track!   I love to read and look forward to catching up on my past reads as well as the future scheduled books!

I enjoyed Dinner at Deadman's.   The opening scene depicts our main character, a treasure collector, Loredo Martin, sleeping in the pink covered bed of Mrs Newbury, deceased.    He had eaten some cereal from the kitchen and became deathly ill and thus begins a history of who Loredo Smith is, what he does for work and to help his community, who his family is, who his employees are and a late revelation that Mrs Newbury, may not have died of old age as everyone assumed.   And the search is on for her alleged killer.  Several folks land on Loredo's radar as potential poisoners, but he eventually narrows it down to the actual perpetrator.

The story was intriguing and began slowly, but smoothly so you got a great feel for everyone's role in the storytelling.  There was a closeness between brothers, friends and family as well as animosity between those who weren't friends, those who dealt in drugs and prostitution.   And it was all very realistic.   I could relate in particular to the cops who were not too intent on helping Loredo out with the vandalism and thievery  he faced from the local punks.  I could also relate to Loredo's image in the community.   My husband is a big guy and not too many people try to push him around, whether that assumption is made correctly or incorrectly.

As murder mysteries go, I liked this book quite a bit and felt it was definitely worth the read.   Thank you CJ  it was unique and a good read!

Author Bio:

 C.J. West is the author of seven suspense novels including The End of Marking Time and Sin and Vengeance, which was optioned into development for film by Beantown Productions, LLC (screenplay by Marla Cukor).

C.J. blogs at www.cjwestkills.wordpress.com. You can also find him at www.22wb.com or at www.facebook.com/cjwestfans.

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