Baltimore-born Jen Pierce is starting to settle into her new job as a reporter at the Wimsy Voice, and her new life in small-town Wimsy, Maine. The town's busy enough to keep a reporter hopping, though violence is usually on the level of one neighbor punching another in the nose after they've both had too much beer. Then, in very short order, a handsome stranger moves to town, and a local preacher is murdered at the barn-raising for a newly settled Wiccan couple. Jen's bucolic life is about to get interesting.
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Good solid mystery, rich real-life settingI've never been to Maine, and teenage-me first got a taste of the internet in the AOL days, so I missed out on the world of BBS. But following the stubborn and stalwart Jen Pierce around both places made me nostalgic for times and places I've never been. That this novel is based in the real world does not diminish the richness of magic that imbues Lee's (and Lee & Miller's) scifi and fantasy works. After all, trucks, sheep, trains, barns and computers are all magic, seen in the right light. And people are the most magic of all. Even when we're rude and petty and vindictive - and just possibly murderous. All the characters reveal who they are through their actions, and even the people you meet only for one scene, you get to know well enough you think you'd recognize them walking down the street.
Mysteries aren't usually my thing, but (similar to the previous reviewer) I trusted Sharon Lee to give me a great yarn rather than embark on my third re-read of the Liaden series in as many months. She delivered, and now I'm frowning at my diminished micropay balance and mentally calculating whether I can sneak in Gunshy before payday.Posted on
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Welcome PinbeamI had to buy these from Amazon last year because I was out of Lee and Miller at Baen. Barnburner and Gun Shy are satisfying mysteries, the Maine locale is engaging and the characters are believable. Add to that a narrative voice that allows the reader to almost live the story! ... the time trip back to bbs days was fun also.
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September 2016 Pinbeam Books$17.95