'A Sleuth in Sausalito: A Gwen Harris Mystery' by Carol A. Sheldon

★★★

Falls Short of its Potential

The main protagonist, Gwen, is not a detective by trade, she's a college student.

​In the opening of the book we find out the impetus for her move into being a detective is the discovery of some bones in a deep ravine. Here's where things start to unravel a bit for me.
      First, the writing is so focused on this point with little to back up the reasoning. Bones are found, so they automatically jump to the conclusion that it could be her mother? So they call Gwen at college to inform her and to have HER contact an M.D. for some X-rays taken in the mid-fifties so they might have something to make a comparison with?
      There was a lot of repetition here as the author worked to build suspense and anxiety in the reader, ultimately falling way short of the mark.
     There were also a LOT of mechanical issues: misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, and wrong word usage.

Overall, there was potential with the plot, but the writing stole that potential by bogging it down with uninteresting secondary characters and rushed, unrealistic, or drawn-out scenes. Unfortunately, as it is now, I can't recommend it to others.