I probably need to state up front that I am not a hard core mystery fan. I do enjoy the occasional read especially a little Arthur Conan Doyle or even a Mickey Spillane I usually tend to science fiction or fantasy but at my heart I like any well written book.  So I took up Charity Kills by Jon Bridgewater with an open mind and no expectations.  When I set it down I had mixed feelings. The book had high points the author obviously knew his city of Houston and its history well and a mystery set in the charity Rodeo event was not your usual place  for a murder to take place but it had it failings as well.  There  was no  big surprise as to who the killer was  and their motivations seemed a little trite.

Add to that, that   the main character ,a  detective storm, who was a once great police officer who was dealing with the death of his wife was a character we had seen before and he was joined by a group of people helping him which took away time that he might have developed into a unique character.  There were some notable characters including a young woman who is instrumental in helping solve the case but is seen for far to short of time.

over all if you are fan of murder mysteries I think it would be worth picking up and checking out but don’t expect to be surprised or amazed. I do think that the author shows promise and  would pick up another of his titles if  I came across it.