“A 2012 Global Ebook Awards finalist … Ice on the Grapevine: A Hunter Rayne Highway Mystery is a tense murder mystery featuring tough-minded ex-homicide detective turned eighteen-wheel truck driver Hunter Rayne. … [It] is a riveting mystery that will keep the reader guessing to the very end.” – Midwest Book ReviewThis is a well spun yarn, full of plot detail and credible human response. … response. Whodunit addicts will not be disappointed. – The Kindle Book Review
On a warm July morning in L.A. County, a frozen corpse turns up at a highway brake check just south of the Grapevine Pass. Ex-homicide detective Hunter Rayne, who now drives an eighteen wheeler, is persuaded by his irascible dispatcher, Elspeth Watson, to help clear two fellow truck drivers who are arrested for the murder. His job is made more difficult by the fact that the suspects, a newlywed couple, won’t speak up in their own defense.
The circumstantial evidence is strong, and a rookie detective from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is eager to score a win. The investigation crosses the Canada-U.S. border when the victim is identified as a second rate musician from Vancouver, and it turns out there were more than a few desperate people happy to see him dead, including the accused couple. Hunter has to use all his investigative skills to uncover the truth.
Hunter’s ex-wife maintains that by taking to the highway Hunter is running away from his past, but he believes that the solitude of days on the road is helping him to heal from guilt over the failure of his marriage and the suicide of his best friend. Tangled relationships and multiple suspects emerge throughout the novel, as Hunter butts heads with more than one officer of the law to solve the crime.
What readers are saying:
“Those were the best mysteries I’ve read in a long time!! As soon as I finished the first one I bought the second and felt empty when I finished it! The characters were awesome and so there that I somehow think they are in my life!”
“… this book caught my attention from the very first pages and it only got better. …I recommend this book to anyone who has a love for a good mystery.”
“Great trucking detail, hardboiled characters, no-nonsense dialogue, and a surprise ending.”
more
Well done. Enjoy reading about Hunter Rayne.
I always enjoy my visits with Hunter Rayne. Enjoy traveling the highway with him. Always keeps a person guessing till the end.
I enjoyed reading this book because the characters seems real and it moved at a good pace. It was interesting geographically because the plot moved between the US and Canada, as well as between local police and the RCMP. Sometimes you just can’t stop doing what you usually do.
Some bits were a challenge to follow but the premise was interesting and to see how the case unfolded was creative.
Exceptional read
A different book based on truck driving . Interesting read may not be for all.Deals with all the vices.
Great to find another author I like. This is my first book that I have read of his. I do plan to read more. Not a heavy book. Light reading murder mystery but not a cozy mystery.
I enjoyed reading
Besides enjoying the murder mystery, I learned about the life and job of a long haul trucker
I love the Grapevine and Vancouver and adored racing around with the plot. It had such possibilities of culprits and kept me guessing. It has a good resolution, too.
Kept me guessing until the end.
This novel keeps the reader wondering
about who committed the crime until the end of the book. Believable
characters and an interesting plot!!
A slow starter, but a good read after a few chapters
Fair