Ditched

Lonnie Squires Mystery #3

by Josie Gordon

Lonnie Squires has few fond memories of her Aunt Kate, and nearly ten years after her death, the battleaxe is still yanking Lonnie’s chain. This time, it’s with the dangling promise of a sizeable inheritance after all these years—but there’s a catch.

It sounds so easy: pick up a valuable, near mint-condition classic Ford Fairlane racecar and drive around Lake Michigan taking photos of herself—and the Fairlane—at appointed landmarks. A weekend of traveling for almost a half million dollars and a pretty cool car?

The offer is tempting, but Lonnie can’t abandon her parish on a moment’s notice. Not when her nemesis has staged an all-out religious war designed to harass Lonnie out of her position as the lone Episcopal priest in Middelburg. Finding another dead body doesn’t help matters in the least. In fact, it definitely seems like the end of the road for the inheritance—and only the beginning of an even wilder ride.

Ditched joins Toasted and Whacked in this Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery series from Josie Gordon .

Genres: Lesbian, Mystery

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2011

About the author

Josie Gordon is the author of the Lambda Award-winning mystery series from Bella Books featuring soccer-playing priest Lonnie Squires. She works as a writing coach and trainer. She is also a certified master dog trainer.
A pen name for Elizabeth A. Trembley.

Reviews

[Jodie Skeen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ditched is the third Lonnie Squires Mystery from Josie Gordon. The town of Middelburg and its cast of crazy characters plays such a large part of all the books, that I'd recommend having read the first two mysteries before reading Ditched, so that you can more fully appreciate every element of the book.

Lonnie Squires has been offered an inheritance from her Aunt Kate, a classic Ford Fairlane racecar and almost half a million dollars. Lonnie isn't surprised that there's a catch to inheriting though, after all, Aunt Kate has never made life easy so why should she start now, 9 years after her death. All Lonnie has to do is pick the car up on her 35th birthday, drive around Lake Michigan with a friend, who is to take photos of Lonnie and the car at specific landmarks. Easy, right?

This is the least of Lonnie's concerns though, as she's in the middle of a battle with Councilwoman Star Hannes and her instigation of archaic town laws. Laws meant to drive Lonnie, the lone Episcopal priest in Middelburg, out of town. Not to mention the pesky dead body that has turned up. No way is Lonnie getting involved in solving yet another murder. Even if the press is calling her a Super Sleuth.

Normally I avoid books that have any sort of religion in them, but Gordon's Lonnie Squires Mysteries are so well written and inhabited by such a kooky and crazy cast of characters, they're hard to resist. I couldn't help but be drawn into Lonnie's determination to stand up to Star and her unjust laws, so much so, that I could feel myself getting angry and wanting to make my own protest. One scene gripped me so hard I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I wanted to jump into the book and help.

Ditched is a wonderful third book in the Lonnie Squires Mysteries and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one in the series. I can hardly imagine what trouble Lonnie could find herself in next time, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the Rev Lonnie Squires mysteries!!! A pleasurable afternoon read. I can't wait for the next book or to find out what happens with Red!