Oh, Bury Me Not

Conan Flagg #3

by M.K. Wren

The war between the McFalls and the Drinkwaters had taken a nasty someone had dynamited a reservoir, depriving the Drinkwaters' Double D ranch of its precious water supply. And Aaron McFall's eldest son George was found dead at the site, apparently killed in the blast.

It looked as though George had been the victim of his own plan for wanton destruction, but his old friend Conan Flagg thought otherwise.

Sensing mysteries beyond the immediate tragedy, Conan began to search for both families' secrets and found that revenge was but one motive for murder. There were also romantic entanglements to consider, and something frightening and unnameable as well....

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime

169 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Martha Kay Renfroe was an Oregon writer, author of mystery and science fiction under the penname M.K. Wren. Her work included the "Conan Flagg" mystery series and the post-apocalyptic novel A Gift Upon the Shore, set along the Oregon coast.

Reviews

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan Flagg, bookseller and occasional private eye, is hired by an old buddy in southwest Oregon to investigate peculiar goings on at his ranch. When Flagg turns up, his client has already been killed. Doesn’t matter, Flagg is on the case.

Mostly interesting for the authentic feeling setting, a part of the West that never seems to make it into books. The combination of modern day western and PI mystery works OK, but, for some reason, isn’t terribly compelling. One odd minus point, the hotel that is featured in the conclusion had burned down years before the book’s publication. A small thing, but I’m sure the author got some letters about it back in the day.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amateur sleuth, Conan Flagg makes a trip to Oregon when his friend, George McFall of the million acre McFall Ranch is killed. Was it murder or did he die while trying to dynamite the reservoir which would cut off the water supply of the Double D Ranch.

An intelligently written suspense thriller.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mystery set in Oregon ranch country, only lightly dated.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cowboys and cattle rustling... what has our hero gotten into?

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan Flagg, private investigator and owner of both a ranch in Eastern Oregon and a bookstore in coastal Holliday Beach, comes home from a business trip in Japan to find that an old friend is urgently trying to get in touch with him. George needs Conan’s help to figure out who is behind a series of incidents that started a feud between his family and that of a neighboring rancher. Unfortunately by the time Conan arrives, George has already been murdered. An interesting setting but too much description of the landscape tends to slow the pace of this unremarkable who-dun-it.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given it a 5 star rating, but there were just too many words misspelled. I had to read some sentences a few times to figure out what word was meant to be there.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read after 25 years, still a darned good murder mystery.

[Yves Lefevre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really very good.
Convincing plot, convincing characters, and very good story telling.

[Curt Bobbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third novel in the series with Conan Flagg as investigator. Unlike the first two books (both set on the Oregon coast), this one takes place in eastern Oregon on two ranches. Conan investigates and solves the death/murder of a friend.