REVIEW: Fowl of the House of Usher

Fowl of the House of Usher
Author: J.R. Ripley

Amy Simms is in a bad mood. Not only is her cheater, jerky ex-boyfriend back in Ruby Lake, MN but she gets talked into taking her best friend Kim out to his creepy rental house for a dinner party. The Usher House has a lot of bad history associated with it and it's out in the middle of nowhere. Add in the fact that Amy does not want to pal around with Craig's too-perfect girlfriend, Cindy. She agrees to go to Usher House only because Craig says he is concerned for the health of the flock of ducks at the nearby lake. When a blizzard hits and the group is stuck at the rural house with no phone or cell signal, it seems a killer is intent on picking them off one by one. As dead bodies pile up, Amy and Kim try to discover which one of them is a murderer. Can they survive until the roads are cleared and they can escape the Usher House?

I absolutely love this series! I've been faithfully reading each book since the first one came out. Amy runs a shop that sells supplies for bird and bee lovers. Her ex and his business partner own the beer garden next door to her shop. Adding to Amy's angst is that her boyfriend's ex-wife (also named Amy) has opened an upscale bridal boutique in town. And her curmudgeonly renter, Esther Pilaster, is now an investor in the business. Seems Amy is up to her nose in weird vibes. Kinda seems fitting that she's also a dead body magnet. If someone in town gets murdered, it's pretty likely that Amy Simms will be dragged into the middle of it.

The setting for this particular book in the Bird Lover's Mystery series had me thinking of Vincent Price movies. A huge, dark, creepy house in the middle of BFE....a blizzard.....dead bodies everywhere. Definitely has that Price feelin' to it. Loved it! The mystery moves at a nice pace. The bird watching background theme is cute but doesn't get in the way of the mystery. The characters are fun (even Esther the Pester). And the plot had plenty of suspense and surprises. I love it when I'm not quite sure how the story is going to end clear up until the last chapter of the book. Well done!

Fowl of the House of Usher is the 7th book in the Bird Lover's Mystery series. The cover art is just awesome! Very eye catching!

J.R. Ripley is a penname for author Glenn Meganck. In addition to the Bird Lover's Mystery series he also writes the Maggie Miller Mysteries and the Tony Kozol series.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**