A REAL BASKET CASE (Beth Groundwater)

This is Beth's first published mystery and it is a pretty good one.  I was bothered by the local police and their lack of initiative in looking for a killer other than Claire's husband, Roger, but this is probably not far off the mark for any seemingly open & shut case.  Overall, I found the novel intriguing.  Claire Hanover is very appealing in her desperation to prove that someone other than her husband shot Enrique despite Roger's conviction that she has been unfaithful.  She reminds me a bit of the heroines from vintage films like "The Perils of Pauline".  She is not fearless, but she takes hilarious chances that would be stupid in the real world.  Here, however, they are part of the charm of the story.  This novel would make a GREAT comedy/mystery film.  I did look at the ending, as I sometimes tend to do, because I began to suspect who was the actual killer (I was right!), for some reason.  Maybe it was feminine intuition, because it certainly wasn't any obvious clue in the story.  There WERE subtle hints in the dialogue that, in retrospect, led me to a suspect.  This novel lacks the ambience of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear culinary series, which is also based in Colorado.  I would like to see a little more reference to the setting as well as a little more affection and connection between the ongoing characters, maybe more background to fill out their relationships.  Hopefully these will evolve as the series continues.  I do look forward to reading "To Hell in a Handbasket", and finding out what pickles Claire Hanover manages to involve herself in next!