“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
It was OK but nothing spectacular. Took a while to get into it and then it held my interest.
Takes you into the life of a long-haul trucker. I found it interesting and I look at trucks on the highway now and feel like I know what their life is like. I notice now which are local and which are long haul!
Didn’t finish
I enjoy the Hunter Rayne mysteries immensely!! I thought I knew who the killer was in this book, but nope!! The whole book kept me guessing!! Great read!!
Couldn’t put it down. Wow
Being a retired life-long trucker, this grabbed my attention.
Easy read kept my attention until then end, I thought I knew who did it and it turns out I was wrong, always a good thing in a murder mystery.
I just finished this book and it was a real “who done it”! Not who I thought! I did feel as though there were a few loose ends. Still, a good read.
Too dragged out. Did not finish it.
Great one-off that can easily become a series…
An enjoyable read that kept my attention to the end.
Would recommend this series.Very different type of character as the crime solver of this series.This was my first novel in this series and look forward to the next one.
I thoroughly enjoyed it…spellbinding to the very end. Good plot.
Love the main character. New respect for the long haul truckers.
Started a little slow took awhile to sort out characters but picked up speed i ended liking it 31/2 stars
Hteat book
Only one or two characters to identify with and care about. Repeated use of the F word is a turn off to me.
I enjoyed the story and will be awaiting any new books .
It kept the interest until the end.
I loved this book. It was a page turner. It was the perfect easy reading crime fiction. I will definitely look for more books in this series. Loved it!