Skating Around The Law by Joelle Charbonneau is the first book in the new “Rebecca Robbins” mystery series. Publisher: Minotaur Books, September 2010
Rebecca Robbins is a woman on a mission—to sell the roller rink she inherited from her mother and get back to Chicago. Fast. However, when she discovers the dead body of the town’s handyman headfirst in a rink toilet, potential buyers are scared off. Now Rebecca is stuck in a small town where her former neighbors think she doesn’t belong, living with her scarily frisky grandfather, Pop, and relying on a police department that’s better at gardening than solving crimes.
Eager to move forward with her life, Rebecca begins investigating the murder herself, reluctantly accepting help from Pop and his extensive social network, which includes a handsome veterinarian and a former circus camel named Elwood. Nevertheless, someone isn’t happy she’s looking into the case, and their threats will have her questioning whether playing sleuth was such a good idea after all.
We meet Rebecca who is in her hometown long enough to sell the skating rink and when she finds the dead body of the local handyman, her dream of leaving fades. With the sheriff more concerned about his garden, Rebecca takes it upon herself to search for the killer and enlists help from her grandfather, his friends and the sexy veterinarian to put the killer on hold. What a great debut novel. What a great story filled with great dialogue and wonderful characters. You are so involved in following Rebecca around as she gather clues, that you don’t see the killer until it’s too late. This was a delightful and entertaining story that will charm you out of your skates. My rating: 5 stars
*new-to-me author