Customer Reviews

Deadly Omen (Tempe Crabtree mystery series)

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You'll find yourself getting pulled into this book, eagerly reading "just one more chapter" to find out what's going to happen next. Meredith's finely crafted detective story is compelling on several levels, from her insights on conflicts between Native American and Anglo culture to the loving but very human conflicts within Tempe Crabtree's (the story's detective) own marriage. This story will remind you of Tony Hillerman, but Meredith explores her own unique territory of the American West -- and of the potential for love as well as evil within the human heart. I look forward to the next title in this new detective series.

I really enjoyed this book. I love a good mystery, one that keeps me up reading all night because I can't put it down. This book did that for me. I had to know who the murderer was, and what would happen next! I started this book with no knowledge of Native American tradtions or lifestyles. I now want to know more. The main character is learning at the same time as the reader is learning. This makes it very easy for any reader to follow along. The characters in this book were described very well by the author. She makes you care about the characters. You feel their emotions. As the reader, you get to look into the relationships of parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and young lovers. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to be kept on the edge of the seat. Very well written.

Deadly Omen is the second in a series of Tempe Crabtree mysteries written by the talented Marilyn Meredith. With a cast of 3-D characters, and a back-woods setting, Meredith proportionately incorporates Native American culture to plots of murder and intrigue.

Tempe Crabtree, the deputy of Bear Creek, is part Yanduchi. In this tale, she has recently married Hutch, the town's Christian pastor. Despite working in law enforcement and being newly married, Crabtree also is raising her teenage son, Blair. That's just background.

Assigned to keep peace and order at a Native American Pow Wow, Crabtree finds herself dragged into a murder mystery when the body of a candidate for princess turns up along the outskirts of the fairgrounds. The deceased was more than likely going to win the crown and responsibilities associated with being a Pow Wow princess.



Who would want to kill a young girl, and why? Though only a deputy, Crabtree can not help but investigate the circumstances behind the heinous crime committed while she was on duty, despite the warnings she receives to back off from the male detectives assigned to solve the case. Most of the evidence points toward a rowdy young Native American. The detectives think the case is as simple as open and shut. So how can Crabtree not get involved when clearly the detectives seem closed minded? She knows they are not asking the right questions, or talking to the right people. Sure, Daniel Redwing was drunk at the Pow Wow, and sure, he had an amazing crush on the victim, but would that be enough to motivate him to murder? And what about the pushy stage-mother of the other princess candidate, did she want her own daughter to win badly enough to kill? After all, she warned people someone was going to die that day. How about the crazy old man always feuding with the Native Americans, does it seem likely that he was carrying around a gun during the Pow Wow, but it lost before shooting took place ... and his lost weapon just happens to be the murder weapon? And what about the victim's boyfriend? Everyone thought they were destined to get married. How many people knew she had broken off their relationship? And what about the victim herself, what skeletons did she have locked away in a closet?



Engrossing from start to finish. Like Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen is a character-driven mystery with enough edge to keep it suspenseful and intriguing. Fast-paced and beautifully written, the reader quickly sympathizes and relates to Crabtree and the rest of her family. It can't easy working as a police officer, so having a newly formed family must only make things more complicated. I am anxious to start the third in the series, Unequally Yoked.

--Phillip Tomasso III, author of Johnny Blade

I read Deadly Omen overnight, and loved it. The author writes with a real sense of the personal relationships between her characters, and I enjoyed the cultural information and differences that are still very real today. I was kept in suspense until the very end, and am looking forward to Ms. Meredith's other books!

I enjoyed reading Deadly Omen. It's a great mistery and you feel like you know the characters from the beginning of the story. I'm looking forward to the next book the in the series!

Marilyn Meredith writes a page turner that holds your interest. The main character, Tempe Crabtree becomes a friend you hope to revisit. I am looking forward to the other books that follow Deadly Omen.