Meadowlark Madness: An Emily Trace Mystery

By Sue Eller

Reviewed by D. Andrew McChesney

Naturally one would assume that E. T Investigations was formed to look into encounters with UFOs and aliens from beyond this world. In fact, Emily Trace opened this detective agency to find out why her husband had been murdered. To fund her personal investigation she takes on a client who, like us, mistakes the significance of the initials “E. T.” Assigned to look into the apparent disappearance of the region’s meadowlarks, Emily and her friends are drawn into a bigger mystery, one that does involve aliens and other worlds.

This book is very hard to place into a specific genre. It is a mystery, a science-fiction novel, perhaps a police procedural, and may even qualify as a “cozy.” Regardless of where it fits, it is a most entertaining and enjoyable read. Set in and around Spokane, Washington, and told as if by Emily herself, the pages turn at a rapid rate. Uniquely, Emily sometimes stops to admonish the reader or to remind them of bits of popular culture from days gone by, which adds to the direct conversational tone of the story.

Meadowlark Madness is a very enjoyable book, created by a writer with a clever and unusual view of the world. This reviewer looks forward to reading more of the Emily Trace Mysteries as they become available.

Meadowlark Madness: an Emily Trace Mystery, ISBN 9781479181711 is available in paperback at a number of Spokane area bookstores, as well as on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle™ formats.