Customer Reviews

Mama Rides Shotgun (A Mace Bauer Mystery)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Book quote: "Snores rumbled from inside Sal's Cadillac. How in the world could he sleep with Mama rattling the windows like that? I tapped at the glass by her head. `Wake up, it's me again.' I'd left my campsite without touching anything, backing away from my shredded tent the way I'd come. I didn't want to trample any evidence that might be collected. `Mama, open up. It's colder out here than a freezer full of sheared sheep.'"


Following successful MAMA DOES TIME, Deborah Sharp continues the Mace Bauer series with MAMA RIDES SHOTGUN. In both, Sharp readers know that native Floridians take pride in being called Cracker. Now, Mama encourages daughter Mace to join her on a six-day horseback ride called The Florida Cracker Trail, a real-life ride in which the author participated. Originally, the Cracker Trail was a cattle drive, not unlike the Chisholm Trail. As always, Mama hopes to marry off her middle daughter who has entered the precarious age of 30-something--even considering for Mace an aged physician who is suspected in tampering with evidence in the subject murder.

This humorous mystery questions who would want to bump off wealthy Lawton Bramble by adding a "spice" not found at Publix grocery store to the cattleman's chili he prepared for riders on the Cracker Trail, chili "spicy enough to peel paint." Agatha Christie fans will be thrilled to learn that Sharp has written in as many possibilities as there are passengers on the Orient Express. Surely Rosalee Deveraux ("Mama") isn't a suspect, though Lawton has a heart that flutters like a candle and used to be Mama's beau--one of many. (Blanche Devereaux, eat your golden-girl heart out.) The young widow Wynonna, who beat Mama to the alter, displays insincere grief that's obvious even to the visually challenged. Lawton's handsome son Trey ("not worth a milk bucket under a bull") has some quirky issues most shrinks wouldn't touch with the proverbial pole--unbalanced and needing money to maintain a lifestyle to match his playboy image? Not even Lawton's level-headed adopted daughter, Belle, who doesn't arrive until after Lawton dies, can be ruled out. Of course, people often achieve wealth by walking over friends. Could childhood friend, Johnny Adams, whom Lawton used as a ladder to climb to success, taking Johnny's true love along for the climb, be the culprit? Curiously, Johnny is the Cracker Trail's chuck-wagon cook, easily able to add ingredients to Lawton's chili.

Pain-in-the-patootie matchmaking-Mama--who "can talk the ears off a row of corn" -- constantly tries to find a man for Mace. Trying to convince Mama not to get Mace married off is like pushing a horse with a rope. On the day Lawton chucks his chili, son Trey gets a face full of Mace, until his ex-fiancée catches the smooching couple. The apple doesn't fall far from her tree. Sexy Latin lover, Detective Carlos Martinez, is "hotter than a stolen pistol" and complicates matters--and not just with his lowly opinion of backwoods law enforcement officers. "My heart felt like it wanted to sprout wings and fly out of my mouth. I guess I wasn't over Carlos after all." Lacking horse sense, Martinez doesn't realize that when Mace's sisters--Mama's family--come along for the ride, they too may be in danger.

Mama's horse is injured and she needs another to complete the ride. But it's the widow Wynonna getting Mama to ride a high-spirited horse named Shotgun galloping away at the crack of a whip that gets Mace's knickers in a knot. Did the sound of a whip popping spook Shotgun, or is something more sinister buzzing about?

On an unusually cold February night, Mace discovers her tent shredded as a threat. Then, a rattlesnake is found inside a jacket and couldn't have gotten so close on its own--especially since reptiles are as cold-blooded as Lawton's murderer. Approaching a highway crossing with trucks barreling down on her, Trey's ex cracks a whip against Mace's horse, making it dash across, sure to make Mace road kill. A note that tells Mace she is on the right track mysteriously disappears, as she and her sisters group-think through the many possible suspects--and why Mace appears to be a likely target for a second homicide.

Mama's hometown Himmarshee is "an hour and a half from the Atlantic coast." But then, anywhere in Florida is within ninety minutes of some coast. Put a pin-spot near Lake Okeechobee's sparsely populated shore, and you've located the fictional fly-speck town. Sharp possibly is the only writer today who can use "critter" in a grammatically correct sentence. For a Southerner to see "y'all" used properly in a contemporary novel is as refreshing as iced tea on an August afternoon, "when it's so hot the hens are laying hard-boiled eggs."

Unlike other mystery series, where the protagonist shines as brilliantly as the desert sun, the Mace Bauer series is a family affair, a group effort to piece together the puzzle, though Mace is a maze of observation skills that any detective would love to own. Any of the "Mama" series is a light, breezy read. No autopsies or gruesome descriptions of disembowelment or decapitation with helicopter rotors. Just a good, old-fashioned mystery, the kind we read when school was out for summer. Though the online venues for which I review don't assign a Star Rating, Amazon and I do. I've reached into my Star Jar and pulled out a handful. Five are far too few.

---Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy

This is the second Deborah Sharp book that I have purchased. While I enjoy the story, I have a difficult time with books that are poorly formatted. Example: a) sentencesthatruntogether b)formatting in a
column
in the
middle
of a
page.
Does anyone check these books before offering them for sale on Amazon? Also while checking the formatting, how about checking the spelling and grammar too?
While reading a book, these mistakes can ruin it for the reader and potential future sales of an author's work.

The Mama series is getting better and better. I can comment on the great story and witty writing, but that seems to be a given with Deborah Sharp. What I especially love is all the "supporting" characters. "Supporting" is in quotes, because you can't call them that (I just can't come up with a better word, which is probably one reason why I am not a writer). In so many mysteries or book series, you have a main character who is the sole focal point, the one who is so much smarter/more insightful than everyone else, the one who figures everything out. The other characters, even those who appear throughout the series, can be little more than caricatures, or complicated props. As a result, a series of books can quickly become stale, "new" cases merely becoming echoes of earlier ones.

Maddie, Marty, Carlos, Mama (of course), and even Sal, are much more complicated/complete than your initial introduction to them. Even within Mama Does Time, their characters are fleshed out and evolve, and that continues with Mama Rides Shotgun. Who would have thought Marty would go from the mousy librarian to a (threatened) leg-breaker?!? And, especially with Mama and her girls, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. They all contribute during their "group-think" sessions; it's not just Mace (the protagonist) who figures everything out. As long as this continues, this is a series that will never get "old." I agree with an earlier reviewer that, although this book can stand alone, to truly experience the growth of the characters you really should read Mama Does Time first. Plus, Mama Does Time is a great book itself!!

Another huge attraction for me to Mama Rides Shotgun is knowing that the Florida Cracker Trail is a real event, and that the author actually made the ride. Although you know the characters and locations are fictitious (or maybe more accurately a combination of many real people and places), that many of the elements are real and that the author has experienced them only adds to the book.

Eagerly awaiting the next one!!

I'll get my (not really) criticism out of the way first. Mama Rides Shotgun is just not as funny as Mama Does Time. MDT is 'slap your leg, howl til you cry and your stomach hurts' funny ... MRS not so much. BUT MRS is a good solid mystery with a solution that confounds 'til the very end. Sharp does an excellent job writing a story with a very tight setting (the Florida Cracker Trail ride) that would trip up many other authors. Mace is a character that stays true to the original writing of her but also manages to change and grow organically.

The best part of this story was that I learned about an event/experience that was fascinating. The Florida Cracker Trail ride and why it is so importnat was brought to life by Sharp's loving treatment of her state's unique heritage and history. This book informed and entertained throughout.

I will definitely be checking in for the next installment of Mace Bauer's adventures as I find Sharp's treatment of the cozy genre to be appealing and fresh.

Deborah Sharp's Mama Rides Shotgun continues the Mace Bauer mystery series with a study in families. Mama and her daughters Maddie, Mace, and Marty are bonding as a family by riding the Florida Cracker Trail, celebrating the drives that moved cattle on the hoof across Florida to market. The best part of the series is the realistic relationship between the women--they are very different in looks and personality, they squabble and irritate each other constantly, but when an outsider threatens any one of them, the family presents a strong united defense. Mace, the middle daughter, is hard-headed and independent, so she is unwilling to accept that Lawton Bramble's death comes from natural causes. As the trail ride continues, attacks on Mace and her family reinforce Mace's determination to find out what happened. Mama's fiance Sal and Mace's ex(?)-lover Carlos Martinez are also back from Mama Does Time. The series is strengthened by Mace's continued development as a character--she comes to realize that it's ok to want support occasionally. Mace's family's strength is highlighted in contrast to the Brambles' dysfunctional one.

The plot is a straighforward who-done-it, with family members as the most likely suspects. There are few clues to the killer's identity throughout the course of the book, which is why I gave four instead of five stars. Characterization, setting, and exposition are well handled, as are humor and irony. Running through both novels is the theme of "old" Florida being lost to newcomers and over-development, but neither book becomes preachy.

This is a good series that I hope continues.

Don't tell Carl Hiaasen, but Mama has quickly become my favorite Florida character. Deborah Sharp's second book places Mama on a six-day cattle ride with her daughters. When an ex-beau suddenly dies the mis-adventure of being around Mama ensues. I LOVE that this is set far away from the beaches and neon of Miami, in rural Florida. The fictional town of Himmarshee is a side of Florida that people should read about.

This is a great read that will have you wishing book three was already published.

Victoria Allman
author of: SEAsoned: A Chef's Journey with Her Captain

Funny, witty and cute... It's the kind of book you start with your first cup of coffee and find yourself calling into work "sick" because you just can't put it down. What other trouble can Mace get Mama out of? I want more!

Mama Rides Shotgun was a great follow-up to Mama Does Time, the first Mace Bauer Mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it confirmed just how much I adored the characters. Mace is back again to solve a murder, only this time it's on the Florida Cracker Trail; a six-day trip on horseback, a tribute to Florida's early cattle-driving days. An old friend of her Mama's is found dead and Mace believes it is not by natural causes. But who did it? The rich man's son who couldn't live up to his father's expectations? The young beautiful widow? The bitter old friend? Don't let the cliches fool you because this is one novel where you can't see it coming until the end. There is enough twists and turns in this cozy mystery that will keep a reader guessing.

I simply enjoyed Mace's character: she's extremely independent, smart, and her sarcasm keeps me laughing. She's a very easy character to relate to, especially when she's dealing with her Mama and her two sisters. She's still learning to accept her mother's new fiance, her sister Marty's new assertiveness, and her attraction to the hot Cuban detective from Miami, Carlos Martinez (despite their short but failed relationship that started in the first book). Carlos alone would keep me coming back for more Mace Bauer mysteries! While this is a stand alone novel, I would recommend starting with the first mystery. One, it's a great introduction to the series (I hope it's a series) and two, it is a favorite of mine.

I'm going to have to agree with the first reviewer: Mace is definitely my new and favorite Florida character! Move over Carl Hiaasen!!

I loved Mama Does Time, but this one just wasn't as much fun. The plot was a little too implausible (would the dead man's whole family really drop everything to join the ride?) and the characters were just too predictable. I was bored before I finished it and I probably won't bother reading the third one.

I absolutely LOVED the first book in the series, "Mama Does Time". After reading the first book I was hooked and couldn' wait to continue with the series. This second book "Mama Rides Shotgun" was even better! If you love Mace, Mama,her sisters, and her sexy latino beau, you will definately love this book! Sadle up and get ready for a campout, cowboy mystery!