Diggin’ Up The Dirt (A Kenni Lowry Mystery Book 7)
By: Tonya Kappes
Rating: 5 of 5
While paranormal is not usually a genre that I read, I make some forays into it when it involves a mystery and when the paranormal is not the focus of the book.
That is how I would classify the Kenni Lowry series. Mystery whodunnits that involve a ghost.
Kenni Lowry is the sheriff of Cottonwood, Kentucky. Her Poppa (grandfather) was the previous sheriff and passed away in office. Kenni has been sheriff for several years and midway through that time, her Poppa showed up (in ghostly form) to help her solve the first murder that occurred while she has been in office.
Since the, he shows up when murders occur. That is the case in this book. It also puts Kenni in the uncomfortable position of knowing a murder has occurred before the medical examiner concludes it.
She and her boyfriend, Finn, who is her deputy and the crew which generally solves the crimes. They have recently added a part time position for another deputy. In this story Kenni and the new deputy are the ones who are looking for the answers to the whodunnit. Kenni, by simply asking, finds out that Finn will someday want to be a sheriff. She is instantly on her guard that he wants her job.
The mystery is interesting and, as usual, Poppa helps tremendously by checking into files and such that he can access through his ghostly presence. Kenni finds out information and then has to find a way to legitimately find the same information in order to have a solution to a crime that will stand up to the scrutiny of a trial.
By the end of the book, there has been transitions in many relationships. Kenni, in the midst of all this, finally gets to meet Finn’s parents. Maybe more importantly, so does her Mama. Their differences, while serious, become hysterically funny in how the author chooses to treat them.
As the book ends, it leaves me wanting to visit Cottonwood again and soon. Kenni, Poppa, and Mama can make my day brighter and give me many, many laughs along the way.
I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Edelweiss.