Candidate for Murder - BoundCovers

No cover — Lauren Carr: Candidate for Murder (Paperback, 2016, Acorn Book Services)

Paperback, 464 pages

Published June 8, 2016 by Acorn Book Services.

ISBN:: 978-0-692-73469-8

(1 review)

It’s election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided between the year-round residents who enjoy their rural way of life and the city dwellers who are moving into mansions, taking over the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed-gate community—complete with a host of regulations for everything from speed limits to clotheslines. When the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees to the town’s residents, David O’Callaghan, the chief of police, decides to make a statement—by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s German shepherd, to run for mayor of Spencer! What starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight, Gnarly becomes the front-runner, and his political opponents proceed to dig into the canine’s past. When one of the mayoral candidates ends up dead, it becomes apparent that …

It’s election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided between the year-round residents who enjoy their rural way of life and the city dwellers who are moving into mansions, taking over the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed-gate community—complete with a host of regulations for everything from speed limits to clotheslines. When the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees to the town’s residents, David O’Callaghan, the chief of police, decides to make a statement—by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday’s German shepherd, to run for mayor of Spencer! What starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight, Gnarly becomes the front-runner, and his political opponents proceed to dig into the canine’s past. When one of the mayoral candidates ends up dead, it becomes apparent that slinging mud is not enough for someone with a stake in this election. With murder on the ballot, Mac Faraday and the gang—including old friends from past cases—dive in to clear Gnarly’s name, catch a killer, and save Spencer!

1 edition

Stephanie Jane reviewed Candidate for Murder by Lauren Carr

A fun satire

4 stars

With the American presidential election taking centre stage practically everywhere at the moment, it was a perfectly appropriate time for me to read Lauren Carr's political satire / murder mystery novel, Candidate For Murder. This book is the twelfth in her Mac Faraday series (of which I read the first, It's Murder My Son, last month) and, while I think reading all the books in order would enable readers to have a greater understanding of the central characters and their motivations, I have only read a few of the series so far, but I had no trouble keeping up with everything that was going on.

Lauren Carr is known for her eventful narratives and Candidate For Murder is no exception on that score. I enjoyed the initial setup where, in exasperation at the self-serving uselessness of the two official mayoral candidates, police chief David O'Callaghan nominates his friend's dog to …

With the American presidential election taking centre stage practically everywhere at the moment, it was a perfectly appropriate time for me to read Lauren Carr's political satire / murder mystery novel, Candidate For Murder. This book is the twelfth in her Mac Faraday series (of which I read the first, It's Murder My Son, last month) and, while I think reading all the books in order would enable readers to have a greater understanding of the central characters and their motivations, I have only read a few of the series so far, but I had no trouble keeping up with everything that was going on.

Lauren Carr is known for her eventful narratives and Candidate For Murder is no exception on that score. I enjoyed the initial setup where, in exasperation at the self-serving uselessness of the two official mayoral candidates, police chief David O'Callaghan nominates his friend's dog to stand for election too. Ordinarily this would be impossible of course, but Gnarly is far from an ordinary dog! Gnarly has serious competition as both his rivals start to realise that the popular canine is actually a genuine contender and I loved how Lauren uses this situation to shine a spotlight on the real life shenanigans that blight elections everywhere. From a relatively gentle small-town beginning, I found myself in the midst of such a whirl of action and intrigue that it's almost impossible to hint at the breadth of this tale without risking spoilers so I'll just say that Candidate For Murder is a true rollercoaster of a read!