About the author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries.  The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder, was released in June 2016.  Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry (WV).  Visit the author’s website or connect with her on Twitter.

About the book

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.

Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop – even though he owns the property.  It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the 10 top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago – and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders.  Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet – including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

Review

Much like with any good series, picking up The Murders at Astaire Castle was like saying hello to old friends who have been on some sort of unique adventure.  While the book was quite familiar to those who have read the previous installments in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, it was also unique in its setting, its plot, and, of course, its dénouement.

It is also familiar in the amount of sleep I have lost getting through it, and adding onto Carr’s now long-standing caffeine debt.  I believe she has chalked up at least five or six strong mochas to date.

This latest addictive page turner features many of the characters seen previously in, for example, Cancelled Vows and Candidate for Murder.  The mystery this time arises from a place that is typically associated with the genre, that is, a musty old haunted castle in the middle of nowhere.  The book is just as weighty as its predecessors and yet again doesn’t come off as a drag, thanks to Carr’s writing skills and the wit with which she infuses every chapter.  The pace continues to be, even with so many installments under her belt, quick with an uninterrupted, comfortable flow, with thought-provoking conversations peppered throughout.

Carr makes the case to become a well-known author who can easily rival with some of the big names, and hopefully will never strip out of her stories the weight that makes her books satisfying and memorable, weight that has been removed from most (if not all) mass produced, quickly turned around mysteries and thrillers that are only meant to sell a story without a brand or a set of characters.  You have been warned: picking up just one title from this series is bound to whet your appetite for more.

Thank you to iReads Book Tours
for providing a copy of this book for me to review!