Murder at the Courthouse (Hidden Springs Mysteries #1) - A. H. Gabhart

I wanted to read this book, because in the past, I had read a book by this author and was pleasantly surprised.  I don't read a TON of mysteries, but I do enjoy them and read them somewhat often.

This is the first in the series.  The other two books are Murder Comes by Mail and Murder Is No Accident.

There's a body on the courthouse steps in the small town of Hidden Springs.  Michael is the deputy with experience in the big city, so he's being depended on to find the murderer.  The problem is, no one in town seems to know who the victim is or what he was doing in town.  Everyone seems to be hiding something and solving the case will bring up Michael's own painful past.

The word that immediately comes to mind with this book: slow.  Right at the beginning, we have the discovery on the courthouse steps.  But then nothing really interesting happens until the halfway mark of the book.  For me, the best part was probably the middle to ALMOST the end.  After the mystery is solved, the story drags on again until there's finally an ending.

I didn't like how slow the plot moved.  I felt like I was forcing myself to read this book, and maybe I would've been better off giving up, but I did make it.  I also didn't like the way the author handled the "romance."  I felt more interested in the story when Alex was in the picture, but she wasn't in there enough.  All in all, after putting this one down, I didn't look forward to picking it back up.