Murder in Devon by Maggi Andersen

About the novel... An ex-patriot American reporter living in England, Casey Rowan wakes to find one best friend murdered and another seriously injured. Casey is determined to find the killer, despite running afoul of the detective in charge of the case—a blue-eyed Scot named Rod Carlisle, who considers her a prime suspect. As Casey gets closer to the truth, losing her heart to the sexy cop isn't the only thing she risks. Now her life is danger, too.
Rod has no patience with civilians who interfere in police matters, even hot little numbers like Casey. Though he tries to keep things professional between, Casey’s beauty and spunk are hard to resist. Rod warns her that what she’s doing is dangerous, but she refuses to listen. Can he find the killer before Casey becomes the next victim?"

I adore most things British... perhaps I'm a closet Anglophile and you know I love mysteries! So, a book titled Murder in Devon was something I could not pass up. I've spent a lot of time in Devon and was curious if Ms. Andersen's vision of this beautiful land matched my memories.

Murder in Devon is a well thought out, well-executed and well written... three non-negotiable when I read mysteries. If a mystery does not meet those criteria, I may finish it but I will not read any other books by that author. Murder in Devon is the first novel by Maggi Andersen I read but it won't be the last!

This mystery played itself out with plot twists and characters who weren't who they seemed. I could "hear" the accents and dialects as I read... I love that! I believe it takes great talent for an author to write dialogue full of dialect and accents that flows and is not distracting.

Ms. Andersen wrote characters who, while in unusual circumstances, were true to themselves. Their actions felt appropriate to the situations and I didn't feel the need to "suspend disbelief". As main characters, Rod and Casey's relationship or rather... their journey to a relationship was an excellent secondary plot. It neither pulled focus from the mystery (that was, in my opinion, the primary plot) or seemed forced. It was written as a natural extension to the circumstances they found themselves in.

~~Thanks to Maggi Andersen, author of Murder in Devon as well as Teddy Rose of Virtual Author Book Tours for sending me a copy of this mystery in exchange for my review.~~