#BookReview The Gray Ghost Murders by Keith McCafferty

The Gray Ghost Murders by Keith McCafferty
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Fourteen months after moving to Montana, fly fisherman, painter, and sometime private detective Sean Stranahan is still sleeping in his office-cum-art-studio, but he’s no longer a newcomer. He now knows the rivers and has a new sweetheart, Martinique. And when the bear-ravaged remains of two men are found on Sphinx Mountain, Sheriff Martha Ettinger once more turns to Stranahan for help in solving what smells like murder. Meanwhile, he’s also been hired by a group of eccentric fishermen to find their valuable, and possibly stolen, Gray Ghost fly. Could the theft be connected to the gray ghosts haunting the mountain? To find out, Stranahan will cross paths, and arms, with some of the most powerful people in the Madison Valley.

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I was delighted to discover The Sean Stranahan series when I ran out of Longmire books to read. (Check up Craig Johnsons Longmire books, they are great). Sean Stranahan moved to Montana after a failed marriage and he is now a painter, fly fisherman and private investigator. In the first book, The Royal Wulff Murders did he help out Martha Ettinger with a case and they have an easy-going relationship with banter and quite a lot of chemistry between them. Unfortunately, they are also seeing other people, but that doesn't stop the sparks between them.

I do like these kinds of books. There is just something about Montana, the mountains, sheriffs and strange crimes that just floats my boat. As I wrote above did I start to read this series when I didn't have more Longmire books to read, and I recommend this series to Longmire fans. For one thing, Keith McCafferty has created some really good characters. Sean Stranahan is great, and I love that it's a female Sheriff in charge and Martha Ettinger is one hell of a woman. They make a great team!

The story in this book is good, and the dead body case took an interesting turn when the circumstances for the deaths were revealed, although I was not surprised when it came to whom was involved in it. Well, I did not figure out the whole plot, there were still some tings that happened that I didn't see coming. Still it was an interesting case. The missing fly case felt a little like a second case, not that important and not that big a mystery. Still, it served it purpose in the end.

I did, however, feel that the book becomes a bit slow now and then in the middle, but it picked up speed towards the end and it ended on a high note. There was, however, one part of the book that really got to me and that was Sean and his new "girlfriend" dealing with her dying cat. I have a serious problem reading and watching anything that deals with animals getting hurt or dies. But, at the same time, it dealt with really beautiful in this book because the cat was really loved.