How to Ruin a
Vacation
Becky A. Bartness
Reviewed
by Mary Lydon Simonsen, Author of Pemberley Remembered
How to Ruin a Vacation is the story of Kate
Williams, a
criminal defense attorney, who is “encouraged” to take a vacation by
her
partner in their Chicago law firm because she
is driving
him and everyone else crazy.
High-strung, overworked, and wound way too tight, Kate slices
and dices
everyone she meets beginning with a fellow passenger on the flight from
Chicago
to Tucson.
With visions of two weeks of quiet at a dude ranch in Arizona, Kate arrives at a
sprawling
complex decorated in 1950s lawn art. At
a meet-and-greet dinner, she is introduced to other guests with whom
she has
nothing in common, and it is her intention to keep it that way. But the resort does have one positive. Her room is the one rustic cottage on the
property, and she imagines quiet walks through pine forests discovering
indigenous
flora and fauna and viewing desert vistas.
So it’s really too bad that she witnesses the removal of the
body of a
murdered illegal immigrant with whom she had spoken earlier in the day.
There are two possibilities as to who murdered the
man: the people who run the Lazy ZZ
Ranch or the handsome, enigmatic rancher, Chris McKay, because it is on
his property
that the body was found. Kate, whose
razor tongue never fails her, ends up recovering from injuries at
McKay’s home,
and it is while she is there that she learns that McKay, in a fit of
rage, may
have been the cause of his wife’s death a year earlier.
During her stay with McKay, she stumbles upon
the body of another murdered immigrant.
Is she safe with McKay? Will she
be safe if she returns to the Lazy ZZ Ranch?
Kate uses her analytical skills to figure out the mystery.
This first novel by Becky Bartness is hugely
entertaining. Miss Bartness has a real
gift for humor and dialog, and the story moves along at a brisk pace. Although Kate Williams is not the most
sympathetic character, she is so funny, interesting, and complex that
you want
her to kick butt. How
to Ruin a Vacation is
a quick, fun read, and an excellent choice for anyone going on vacation.