Favorite Book - 2024

Out of the fifty two books I've read this year, The Royal Wulff Murders was my favorite read...from the Sean Stranahan mystery series by Keith McCafferty.

The book's main character (Sean) is a young man recently divorced and in search of a new life in Montana. He's an artist, avid fly fisherman, guide, and a private investigator from Vermont, who becomes involved in a murder case through the victim's sister. Yeah, she's his client, a wild southern beauty, and there is some lust at play between the two as well.

It all begins with a body being found in the Madison River by a fishing guide, apparently drowned, with a Royal Wulff dry fly stuck in his lower lip. And, the sheriff (Martha) suspect's foul play. She crosses paths with Sean and they team up to investigate the death of the young angler and if a murderer tried to set up the crime scene as a drowning accident. I'm sure you know the answer already. But what you wouldn't guess, the victim was fishing with a Winston fly rod. Oh yeah, I'm into this book immediately.

The plot continues with the murder being solved, but not without a complex mix of story lines with interesting characters intertwined within the case. I must say, the author's description of fly fishing in a blue ribbon stream among Montana's beautiful landscapes did make it difficult to put the book down.