Dry Creek has been home to the Layton family for generations, a heritage Claire Layton and her brothers Hank, Chris and Sam all appreciate. Claire is a successful, though somewhat debt-ridden, restaurateur who minds her own business—literally. She has enough on her plate between an irascible chef, an abandoned sous-chef, and the pressure of running her highly praised eatery, Harvest Bistro. But when she discovers one of her customers dead in her dumpster, her world begins to unravel.
Even as her County Sheriff brother Hank and his team are still swarming the property looking for evidence, Claire receives a threatening call. It seems there’s a slight problem involving the dead young woman in the dumpster. She doesn’t have her phone and her flash drive with her. The killer makes it clear that Claire better find them by noon the next day or he’ll go after her and her entire family.
With the clock ticking, Claire searches for the missing items to no avail. Complicating matters is the arrival of Jake Warrick, a hotshot security expert hired by the dead woman’s father to find her killer. Claire’s trying her best to get Jake out of her restaurant when her Jeep goes up in flames. The noon deadline has passed.
Determined to find the killer and to keep her family safe, Claire refuses to back down, even as the murderer continues to terrorize her. Jake isn’t backing down either, and the tension between the two—sexual and otherwise—continues to mount. Jake has no intention of leaving Claire in danger—or of leaving at all before he gets to know her much, much better.
Clues, most leading nowhere, pile up, and the threads of the mystery are becoming still more complicated, even as the killer comes closer and closer to claiming his prize—and his prey.
I really loved how spunky Claire was. I instantly connected with her because of her fire. She was alive, and not afraid to get her hands dirty. I loved how she just jumped right in, no questions asked. Even if it did get her into trouble sometimes.
Because it was a murder who-dun-it with the killer on the loose, there was a good amount of suspense and intrigue. I was trying to solve the case the whole time right there along with Claire. There are also some close call and kind of scary moments. I love creepy moments in murder books. hehe maybe I’m a little weird?
This is a really good book, it sped right along. No dull moments or extra fluff. I really appreciated that. I easily read the book in one sitting. I could totally see how this book would make a great start to a series or a complete standalone. It ended in a good place.
Up a Dry Creek contained some sexual content, so the age rating recommendation is 18+. It was not overdone though, I thought it was a good amount. Not too much, not too little. Up a Dry Creek was a fast paced, believable and throughout enjoyable read.
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| 3.5/5 Gavels |
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So glad you liked Up a Dry Creek! I think getting into trouble is a daily part of Claire’s life, whether she’s tracking down a murderer or running her restaurant. 🙂 Also, have to tell you I lived in Tallahassee for several years out by Lake Jackson. It was were I fell in love with fried pickles. Yum.
i read a fair amount of adult books (sophie Kinsella, Louise Bagshawe, etc) so im always happy to see some people reviewing good adult books that i might be interested in. I love mysteries, especially murder cases and the suspense! keeps the book alive for me :P. I do think i will check this out and find a time to read it, last adult mystery novel was goodnight nobody by Jennifer Weiner so this could be a good read!