Title: Dead Man's Hand (Caden Chronicles, #1)
Author: Eddie Jones
Publisher: Zondervan
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication date: October 23, 2012
Genre(s): Middle Grade (Murder Mystery)
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Format: ARC
Pages: 214
It's All Just a Show...Right? 'This is an authentic old west ghost town, son. Around these parts the dead don't stay dead.' Nick Kindle's vacation at Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town takes a deadly turn toward trouble when the fifteen-year-old finds himself trapped in a livery stable with the infamous outlaw Jesse James. The shooter whirls, aims and... vanishes. Great theatrics, Nick thinks, except now he's alone in the hayloft with the bullet-riddled body of Billy the Kid. And by the time the sheriff arrives, the body disappears. Soon Nick is caught in a deadly chas---from an abandoned gold mine, through forbidden buffalo hunting grounds, and across Rattlesnake Gulch. Around every turn he finds another suspect. Will Nick solve the murder? Will his parents have him committed? Or will the town's infatuation with Hollywood theatrics conceal the real truth about souls, spirits and the destiny that awaits those who die.
Woah. This is a really good murder mystery with a touch of romance. I loved it! It was an amazing read and kept me up all night. At first i kinda dragged my way through the book until a charecter died in the second chapter ( I flipped out a little and texted all my friend, none of which cared :) ), which was the problem in the plotline. I got all excited and pretty much plowed my way through the rest of the book ( getting in quite a bit of trouble for not doing my homework :) ).
The characters reminded me of the Westing game, all of them being prime suspects except for the detective, all of them pointing fingers to the other suspect. At the end, the person who talked the least was the killer. How ironic. I have always been a fan of first person writing, so the syle suited my needs.
The ending was pretty satisfying but still made me all excited about the next book. I thought that the fact that Mr. Jones wrapped up the story by making up another murder mystery was so clever! I would recommend this book to an audience of 6-9 graders. Keep reading, fellow readers!
hum, sounds good.. i do like some middle grades . great review! Katie@ Inkk
ReplyDeleteOh this looks good!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteValerie
StuckInBooks.com
Oh sounds interesting. At first I didn't realize it was middle grade :D
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a book I would have loved when I was younger! Not so sure I would read it now but maybe...
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of this book, but it seems interesting. And I haven't read any murder mysteries with romance so that's new altogether! I'll have to check this one out! Thanks for the great review! :D
ReplyDelete~ Maida @ Literary Love Affair
I love murder mysteries! I usually read mature YA but this sounds intriguing!
ReplyDeleteWas this Christian? I'm automatically skeptical of anything published by Zondervan...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, but not all novels by zondervan are christian, i've read some that aren't. This isn't :)
Delete- Juhina
I love mysteries. I haven't heard of this one before, but it sounds great! Awesome review!!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fantastic! It sounds like my sort of book, and I hate to say that I completely would have dismissed it before because of the cover. :P Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great review and the book was seems pretty good :)
ReplyDeleteJanina @ Synchronized Reading