Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Review of Sleuth on Safari by A. R. Kennedy


Welcome to the blurb blitz tour for Sleuth on Safari by A.R. Kennedy! In addition to giving you an excerpt to enjoy from this cozy mystery, I'm also reviewing it, because I love to read cozy mysteries. Follow the tour for even more excerpts and reviews and let the author know your thoughts along the way. Plus there's a great giveaway for a $25 gift card!




Sleuth on Safari

Naomi and her estranged sister are off on a trip of a lifetime—an African safari, a bucket list trip for Naomi on which she got a last-minute deal. Naomi thinks traveling with her sister will be the worst part of her African safari until she finds one of their fellow travelers, the unlikable Dr. Higgins, dead. She gets more adventure than she bargained for when she starts investigating what she thinks is murder but the luxury lodge says was a tragic accident. She only has a few vacation days, and a few game drives, to find the killer.

Read an excerpt:
Something red on the walkway, about fifteen feet away from me, toward his room, caught my eye.

I slowly walked toward it. From a few feet away, it looked like a blob, something spilled. As I stood over it, it looked like a paw print. Like the ones my childhood dog, Molly, would leave in the kitchen after playing in the mud. But it was red.

I looked to my left, down the walkway, toward the fifth cabin, Dr. Higgins’ cabin. “Dr. Higgins, you there?” I shouted. There was no answer. I hesitated but then stepped off the walkway. Slowly, I walked toward his suite, listening intently for any sound. I stood at his door, which was ajar. “Dr. Higgins? It’s Naomi from next door. Everything okay?”

With each step, I saw more red. Maybe he had spilled some wine. He liked the red wine. Not as much as Jack liked his beer but it was his drink of choice for the trip so far. He was still at dinner when Charlotte and I left last night. Maybe he came back to his room and had a few more glasses. And somehow spilled it everywhere outside his room.

Standing at the door, I yelled in, “Dr. Higgins? It’s Naomi. I’m going to come in, okay?”

No response. No refusal but no permission either. I went in anyway.

Seated in the sitting area’s plush chair, facing the window and the beautiful landscape, was Dr. Higgins. His head was hanging back. His hand was hanging down by his side, a broken wineglass on the floor next to it. There was even more red everywhere inside the room too. Maybe he’d had a late night after all.

I poked him on his shoulder and prepared for him to yell at me for entering his room unauthorized.

Still no response.

“Dr. Higgins, it’s time for our morning drive.” I tapped him again. “You’re late,” I added, just to annoy him.

Still nothing.

I walked around him to face him head on.

And I screamed.




**My thoughts**
I love cozy mysteries, and there are so many of them out there. This one particularly caught my eye because it takes place in Africa. Naomi and her sister Charlotte go on a safari in Africa, which Naomi landed for an excellent price. (How that came to be is later revealed.) There are all of these great descriptions of all of their safari rides and all of the animals that they encounter. Only the one guy who is a stick in the mud PITA randomly dies of an apparent hyena attack. Only Naomi thinks something more sinister actually happened and attempts to find out what happened.

Her investigation is not as corny as what other cozy mystery sleuths do. She does get pretty sneaky along the way, but is working really hard to uncover the truth. You are right there with her as she tries to figure it all out. I had suspicions of who the murderer was, but was really left guessing until the end.

I enjoyed watching the mystery unravel. And I particularly enjoyed the entire African setting. I am going to watch out for more in this series for sure!

Thank you to the author/publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.



About A.R. Kennedy

A R Kennedy lives in Long Beach, New York, with her two pups. She works hard to put food on the floor for them. As her favorite T-shirt says, ‘I work so my dog can have a better life'. She’s an avid traveler. But don’t worry. While she’s away, her parents dote on their grand-puppies even more than she does. Her writing is a combination of her love of travel, animals, and the journey we all take to find ourselves.

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A. R. Kennedy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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