Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson

I actually finished this one last night while I waited for my dilatory classmates to post to the message board that closed at midnight. The last time, I gave up and went to bed at 11:30 and in the morning there had been eleven additional messages. Some of them were initial posts, not responses - I know because this time there were a few names that I had never seen before. And this instructor not only closes, but takes down the message board so that we can no longer read it. At any rate, by the time I was ready to pack it in, I was too cranky to write the book up.

As always, a good time, someone shoots out their window while Tom is out of town and Goldy and Arch relocate to the medieval castle belonging to her current client, a serious Anglophile - hence scones. The "sticks and" part shows up in a serious mother/son chat between Goldy and Arch about some recent events. Tom barely makes it back into the neighborhood before someone gets in a near-fatal shot at him and he spends the rest of the time recuperating at the castle as well.

The Jerk is out on parole after serving only a small fraction of his sentence for beating his previous girlfriend, and this time the user is used as he is set up by the criminals. A truly delightful turn of events which is gleefully reported by Marla, who actually scarcely appears in this story. In each book, I keep thinking that Davidson will finally kill him off, but I suppose I would prefer that before she does that, Arch sees the light.

I am beginning to wish that I had looked at time frame in these. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to go back an review that part of them - and for the other series that I am rereading. At present reading, it seems like it is always winter in Colorado. Granted, a medieval castle is a lot creepier in the cold of winter than on a bright sunny summer day.

This one is loaded with investigative dead ends and motivational twists. The usual pattern for many series mysteries is two investigations which turn out to be the same one. Here we have two lines which appear to be related but turn out not to be. An interesting change.

On the family front, Arch is being an irritating teenager and maintains his fanatic loyalty to his violent, abusive father. Julian has transferred to a college in Colorado and his professors never seem to mind when he runs down to Aspen Meadows for weeks at a time to help out. And, Tom's high school sweetheart returns from the dead.