Review and Blog Tour for A Field Guide to Homicide by Lynn Cahoon

A Field Guide to Homicide (A Cat Latimer Mystery)
by Lynn Cahoon

About A Field Guide To Homicide

A Field Guide to Homicide (A Cat Latimer Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Publisher: Kensington (January 28, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 149671685X
ISBN-13: 978-1496716859
Digital ASIN: B07R9SXCQ8

Cat Latimer and her writer’s retreat group go on a hiking trip—but a murderer has been lurking off the beaten path . . .

Cat’s sweetheart, Seth, is going all out on an outing into the local mountains—for the benefit of the writing group Cat’s hosting at her Colorado B&B. But when they try to identify some plant and animal life, they find death instead. The body belongs to a man with a gold claim a few miles away. Instead of striking it rich, he’s been struck down.

To his surprise, Seth recognizes the victim from his military days—and up to now believed he’d already died during his last tour of duty. Now Cat has to solve this mystery before the killer takes a hike . . .”

It’s always nice to return to a well-enjoyed series to catch up with familiar characters in their new adventures. The Cat Latimer series was one of my favourite discoveries in 2019 so I was quite happy to start my year off with the latest installment.

In A Field Guide to Homicide, Cat and Seth and their writers discover a body while on a hike. The mystery ratchets up the intrigue scale when the victim turns out to be a former army buddy of Seth’s who was presumed dead ten years before.

Up to about halfway into the book, not much happens, as regards the mystery. We don’t have much real interaction with the possible suspects. However, I almost didn’t realize as there was so much to enjoy in terms of meeting the new writers, catching up with Shauna, Seth and Cat and even having a visit from Uncle Pete’s squeeze, Shirley.

I can’t say that this was a tough one to figure out the culprit, but there are still enough twists and turns and revelations to keep the reader well-entertained until the main motive is revealed.

This story allows the readers to find out more about Seth and what his life in army was like, what motivated him to join, leave and how he coped with Cat’s decision to marry Michael. As a series reader, I was very pleased to have the chance to find out more about this key secondary character.

The other secondary characters also feature, as we see more of Uncle Pete’s social life and read about Shauna’s own difficulties with her family. Our protagonist, Cat, also has time to reflect on her own ambitions, needs and how the changes in her life affect her. She’s not perfect, she’s sometimes selfish and too caught up in her own world, but she’s real and never pretends to be anything else.

Overall, this was another fun installment in the Cat Latimer series, one that really explores the development of a couple series regulars, making me love them even more.

I give it 4/5 espresso shots.

About Lynn Cahoon

Lynn Cahoon is the award-winning author of several New York Times and USA Today bestselling cozy mystery series.

Lynn Cahoon is the award-winning author of several New York Times and USA Today bestselling cozy mystery series. The Tourist Trap series is set in central coastal California with six-holiday novellas releasing in 2018–2019. She also pens the Cat Latimer series available in mass market paperback. Her newest series, the Farm to Fork mystery series, debuted in 2018. She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com.

She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies.