Canter with a Killer by Amber Camp

Canter with a Killer
by Amber Camp

ISBN-13: 9781639101801
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Released: Oct. 11, 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Mallory Martin left her marriage and her unfulfilling job to move back to her hometown of Hillspring, Arkansas, and start a horse rescue with paddocks of happy horses and one very quirky donkey. But when her cantankerous neighbor and longtime critic, Albert Cunningham, is found murdered in his fancy show barn, Mallory becomes a suspect. Since she feels that Sheriff Grady Sullivan is ignoring all good sense and focusing only on Mallory, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Aided by her best friend, Lanie, and rescue volunteer Tanner, Mallory races headlong into the investigation in search of the real killer. But horses and murder aren’t the only thing on her mind when she meets Albert’s handsome son, Braydon. The suspects mount quickly. There’s Albert’s girlfriend, Kathleen, who was on the farm when he was murdered; organic farmer Heather Rogers, who accused Albert of contaminating her creek; and Philip Atwood, who’d been trying for a right-of-way across Albert’s farm.


My Review:
Canter with a Killer is a cozy mystery. Having read hundreds of cozy mysteries, I nominate Mallory as the most annoying, childish main character that I've encountered. She's in her forties but acted like a fifteen-year-old. Her college-age rescue helpers were much more responsible and mature. Mallory occasionally had epiphanies, like realizing that she's been impatient and judgmental. But she always justified her behavior and didn't seem to realize that these were her norm. She had a terrible temper (often aimed at the undeserving), and she felt it was justified because it felt so good to go off on someone. Let's add self-centered to the list. She hated when the police searched her home legally, but then decided to break into the home of one of her suspects and snoop around. It wasn't even clear what she was looking for. She realized she would be breaking the law and even briefly felt bad about going through his closets, file cabinets, and computer, but she justified it as "he might be guilty" and therefore he deserved it. So it's okay for her, but not the cops?

From the beginning, the sheriff assured her that he didn't think her guilty but needed her cooperation to rule her out. Her response was to get a lawyer, investigate on her own, and tell everyone that she's the #1 suspect. Even though the sheriff proved that she wasn't his only or even main suspect, she yelled at him for not considering other suspects. She respected no one and blamed others for believing her the #1 suspect when, hello, she's the main one spreading that rumor.

She had a handful of suspects and looked mostly for motives. She overlooked possible suspects and focused on people she didn't like. She never found out exactly how or when the victim died. She jumped to (wrong) conclusions and acted on them. She was rude to the people who tried to help her. For example, she asked her (rather nice) ex-husband, a lawyer, to help, then blocked his texts because he didn't find her a lawyer fast enough to suit her, then mostly ignored him when he showed up to help. He concluded that she hated him, and she's shocked that he could think that. Really?! Anyway, the author made the clues very, very "look at that!" obvious, so I had whodunit figured out as soon as we met whodunit. I identified the clue that would solve the case way back at the beginning of the story. So no puzzle to distract from Mallory's appalling behavior.

Finally, I live in the very area that "Hillspring" is fictionally located. I've never met such friendly, polite, nice people anywhere else I've lived, but this book makes us seem like bitter, mean, backbiting people out to sue all of our neighbors. Plus, it's unrealistic that a larger town like Hillspring only had one feed/hardware store and one lawyer. A little town near me has 2 feed stores and 1 hardware store just on the main street through town. It's also very safe in this area. People are extremely unlikely to point a shotgun at you, especially if the public is welcomed on their land. Being a cozy mystery meant Cabot Cove had hundreds of murders, but it still came across as a nice town. Yet this author's Hillspring makes it sound like you should do everything you can to avoid the area.

There was occasional use of bad language. There were no sex scenes. Everyone forgave Mallory's behavior at the end and told her that she's so clever. That's pure fantasy.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.