Murder on the Hoof by Kathryn O’Sullivan is the second book in the “Colleen McCabe” mystery series. Publisher: Minotaur Books, May 2014

It’s mid-August in the Outer Banks village of Corolla in North Carolina and Fire Chief Colleen McCabe is conducting rookie training and spending increasingly more time with her best friend, Sheriff Bill Dorman. The wild horses have been relocated to the sanctuary, and the town is occupied with the upcoming local theatre production. All is right with the world. But when a member of the acting troupe is found dead in the dunes after an emergency training exercise and Bill’s ex-fiancée arrives in town, Colleen knows trouble is back with a vengeance.

Then a second member of the theatre company is discovered dead at the Whalehead Club, and Colleen is forced to put aside her feelings about her relationship with Bill and work with him to uncover who is murdering the thespians and why. She discovers as much drama offstage as on and quickly finds herself swept up in the intrigue of the theatre company and struggling to keep her men at the firehouse focused. As the danger mounts, Bill warns her off the investigation. Despite his warning, and to her own peril, Colleen is determined to stop the killer before he or she strikes again.

In her sequel to Foal Play, Kathryn O’Sullivan delivers more laughs and mayhem with charming characters mystery readers will love getting to know.

I love it! This was an evenly-paced drama with a comfortable tone that was hard to put down as this light and airy tome quickly became a page turner. Who wanted them dead? Are the two connected? One killer? Two killers? Step inside this wonderfully executed story where the residents are a friendly and eclectic group of people who will delight you with their interaction and dialogue between one another. The author did a great job in keeping me mystified by the murders with plenty of suspects and some surprising twists that added to this whodunit. With Colleen and Bill on the case, things hit a bit too close for comfort for Colleen, and it will take a village to bring a murderer to justice. Colleen is a fun character holding court over a group of male firefighters and Bill is the local sheriff who enjoys a “best friend” status that only they see. I can’t wait to see what new adventures await Colleen, Bill and their friends in the next book in this delightfully engaging series.