Joyce Oroz is the author of three popular mystery novels
SECURE THE RANCH
READ MY LIPSTICK
SHAKING IN HER FLIP FLOPS
Welcome to Josephine's world, where the bad guys don't stand a chance--where life isn't fair but Jo straightens it all out with help from Solow.
SECURE THE RANCH
Josephine Stuart, a fifty-year-old widow, is blessed and cursed with an overactive curiosity, a strong sense of right and wrong and a willingness to put herself on the line for her friends. Josephine has been hired to paint murals in the secluded Munger mansion, located at the top of a wooded mountain. Certain local reprobates have their reasons for wanting the Mungers to leave. Accidents, fires and the death of a forest ranger have everyone on edge. Josephine's curiosity drves her down the mountain, into the world of illegal activities and nefarious characters. Her situation becomes dire--no way to escape. One captor has a knife, the other has a rifle. Can she save herself and her friends?
A sample of Josephine's struggle
...then I heard it, coming up fast from behind, the roar of an engine propelling a truck with major muffler problems. It backfired. I jumped a couple inches in my seat and my heart skipped several beats.
Headlights flashed in my rearview mirror. Solow howled again, his head stretched out the window as far as it could go. I made a right turn onto Central Avenue, stifling the urge to stomp on the gas pedal. The truck behind us followed at the same speed until we left the streetlights behind.
Highway Nine was a windy two-lane road that followed the San Lorenzo River through a redwood forest from Boulder Creek, all the way south to Felton. There were no street lights, just sharp turns, narrow bridges and steep drops down to the river.
“Brace yourself, big guy.” I put my foot down hard, the engine coughed, and we sped up only to slow down for a sharp turn. And so it went, turn after turn with the Dodge bearing down on our tailgate like an eight-cylinder cat playing with a four-cylinder mouse. I had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, sweat running down my back and my jaw was tighter than a double-knotted shoelace.
I had driven through the valley many times and knew my way around, but the McFee's had the “home advantage”. I felt a hard jolt from the right rear of my truck. Solow yipped. In slow motion, we spun to the left on two wheels, across the other lane and instantly turned a closed garage door into a million toothpicks. The one-car garage, perched high above the river beside a rustic cabin, stood about five yards from the highway. The little house was typical of many in the area, probably built in the thirties or forties when building codes were lenient or nonexistent.
Thankfully, we stopped before my pickup could break through the back wall of the garage and drop eighty feet down to the river. I heard Solow whine and didn't blame him. I felt like a good cry myself. Shaking like crazy, I cautiously opened the door and climbed out. Once I had my balance, I stumbled down a dark path to the cabin. The porch light blinked on and the front door opened. A very distraught elderly couple dressed in pajamas looked at me as if the Martians had landed.
I stepped into the light and apologized profusely. Feeling wobbly, I wrapped my arm around a porch pillar. I always hated it when females fainted in the old movies, and I never wanted to be a fainter. But there I was, feeling numb and shaking like a maple leaf. Next thing I knew, I was laying on a couch too short for my body. My feet were up on the armrest. Pieces of peanut butter sandwich clung to the toe of my right sandal.
“So that's where Theda's sandwich went,” I mumbled. The plump little old lady patted the goose egg on my forehead with a wet cloth. “I'm so sorry I ruined your garage door. I'm sure my insurance will pay for a new one.” I looked up and thought I was hallucinating. A huge caribou head hung on the wall behind the couch. Its yellow marble eyes glared down at me accusingly.
“Relax, dear,” the frizzy-haired woman said. “You've had a terrible shock.” The elderly man stomped into the house with his pajamas in a twist and announced that his collection of stuffed animals was a complete loss. It seemed odd to me that he wasn't nearly as concerned about his garage door as he was about some silly stuffed animals.
“I'd be happy to buy you some new ones,” I said, feeling horribly guilty. The little lady looked like she was ready to split a gut.
“Honey, you can't buy them. You have to kill the mangy animals and then they're stuffed and ready to spend thirty years in the garage, or until a nice accident takes them out.” She couldn't hold back any longer and let loose with uncontrollable laughter, slapping her knees and wiping her eyes. Her husband stomped out of the house.
Fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb novels will love this book. Oroz's main character, Josephine Stuart, is an every day "Jo" (ha ha) who gets into pickle after pickle in the scenic Santa Cruz mountains. Jo, and her trusty side kick Solo, is a woman you'll want to spend more time with after the book is over. Oroz has created a funny - at times laugh out loud - adventure that had me staying up late turning pages. review by KT
SECURE THE RANCH
now available on line at Amazon, Kindle and Barnes and Noble
Spoiler free review, By
Robert "Dimndbangr" Hicks (Honolulu, HI) -
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This review is from: Secure the Ranch (Paperback) Disclaimer-If you read the review and feel there is a spoiler in it, please let me know and I will remove that section. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you.
Secure the Ranch is the first book by debut author Joyce Oroz.
Secure the Ranch follows a mystery surrounding Josephine Stuart, an artist who is hired to paint some murals for a wealthy client high in the mountains of California. After strange accidents, occurrences, and the death of a wildlife ranger, Josephine finds she is unable to set aside her curiosity and delves deep into a mystery best left alone. Some subplots involve her friendship with one of her neighbors, visits with her mom and dad, and others that would lead to spoilers.
I will have to admit that the writing in this book is well done. Even though I may have found myself hesitant at times to pick the book back up from other things I was doing, once I did, I was engrossed and read chapter after chapter. The characters were also better than I imagined they would be at the beginning. I had a vision of the wealthy clients to be the snobbish type and they turned out to be much better than that and I was thankful. There was some nice depth to the characters and they were easy to connect with.
Some criticisms:
1. The dialogue, though done well enough throughout the majority of the book had some abrupt endings to it. It just felt like there was more to be said, but the next thing I know, the story moves on to something else. Mostly this happens while Josephine is searching for answers of what is going on.
2. There were a couple of inconsistencies in this book. The main one is at the beginning when Josephine is getting ready for bed; she sets the alarm for 7:30. In the next chapter, she is woken to music coming from the clock radio at 7.
Some Positives
1. I really did enjoy the characters in this novel. Everyone had their own voice and was easy to distinguish from the other characters. The reader can easily connect with the characters.
2. In just about every chapter, something happens to keep the reader engaged in the story. Ms. Oroz really knows how to keep a mystery going and giving just enough tidbits for the reader to try to figure out what is going on and who is involved.
3. The imagery is nicely detailed without overbearing the reader with all the details. It is a nice mix of giving the author's vision while at the same time leaving out enough so the reader can fill in the rest.
There are reviewers who compare this with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Aside from having a pet, bill collectors calling constantly, and an overactive sense of curiosity, that is about where the comparison ends. I will say I did enjoy this book and if there are to be more books from this author, I will definitely buy them. I know most of Janet Evanovich's fans are getting tired of the stale trail the plum books have been following, so I would recommend this one to them for a refreshing view away from the every day.
Happy reading
-Dimndbangr
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Now that you have read Secure the Ranch, check out Kindle for the newest Josephine Stuart mysteries. Read My Lipstick and Shaking in Her Flip Flops are ready to go--enjoy the ride!
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