MURDER ON THE ROCKS by Allyson K. Abbott (Kensington)

For anyone who loves bars and bartenders, this is a good read. Drink recipes included !

Mack's Bar is on of those nice friendly places where everybody knows your name. The Mack is a woman—.real name MacKenzie. Her father, Mack, owned the bar and when his wife died, he brought his daughter, Mack, up in the bar. It sounds like a bad idea, but in reality the regulars were upright citizens and helped keep little Mack occupied when she was awake. Mack received lots of attention and was never neglected and she learned how to mix drinks and run the bar by the time it was necessary for her to take over. Everyone loved her dad. He was an upright and good man, so the fact that he was murdered and found in the alley behind the bar made no sense. Obviously, someone didn't like him. The case was still open many months later when Mack found another body in the Dumpster in the alley behind the bar.

The story evolves in the bar due to the presence of a hunky cop who pretends to be a new employee as he tries to eavesdrop on the many customers. He and Mack, herself a wily and intelligent amateur sleuth, work together to solve the mystery of the second murder, a woman known to Mack and to the customers. The woman was involved romantically with her father and Duncan, the cop-turned-bartender, believes the murders are connected. Lily herself is a suspect, as are several regulars, including her bouncer with a police record. All her regulars have suspicious lives that could lead to murder, yet they all have the appearance of normal people.

Mack's bar is in Milwaukee and Mack has unusual abilities. Her special "thing" is that she has synesthesia, an unusual neurological glitch that gives her extra perceptive senses. Her sensory perceptions are mixed. She can hear and smell various things when she sees something or someone. These abnormal senses are confusing and she's spent a lifetime trying to avoid them. Sometimes she isn't sure if they're real or if she has sensed things normally. To solve this case, she has to try to use them and, more importantly, discern their meaning.

The author's name is a pseudonym for a woman who works as an ER nurse and lives in Wisconsin.

This is interesting thriller, partly because synesthesia is a departure from witches, psychics, and othernormal paranormal sleuths.

Good!

—Dian Esterly

FTC Disclosure - This book was provided by the publisher.