Review of "A Merciful Fate: A Mercy Kilpatrick Mystery" by Kendra Elliott

In this 5th book in the 'Mercy Kilpatrick' series, the FBI agent investigates a decades old armored car robbery. The book can be read as a standalone.

For those not familiar with the series: Mercy Kilpatrick grew up in a prepper family in Eagle's Nest, Oregon but she fell out with her kinfolk and left.



After becoming an FBI agent Mercy returned to Eagle's Nest, where she works in the local FBI office and solves crimes with her partner, Eddie Peterson. Mercy is now on good terms with her mom and siblings, but still has a difficult relationship with her dad.



Mercy is engaged to Police Chief Truman Daly, and they sometimes collaborate on cases.

*****

As the story opens, a skeletonized body is found in an isolated shack in the Eagle's Nest woods along with empty money sacks from a 30-year-old armored-car robbery.



The holdup, called the 'Gamble-Helmet Heist', resulted in the death of a guard and the arrest of a perp named Shane Gamble - but four gang members got away with the cash. One robber, Ellis Mull, didn't get far though, because it's his body in the shack, and he's been dead for decades - shot in the head.

Mercy Kilpatrick and Eddie Peterson get the Ellis Mull case and consult with Art Juergen, the FBI agent who led the original investigation three decades ago. Art is retired now, but he's more than willing to lend a hand. For the most part, the FBI agents are trying to trace the three remaining gang members, identified as Nathan May, Trevor Whipple, and a driver known only as Jerry.



Meanwhile, there's other trouble brewing in Eagle's Nest, with two women experiencing malicious mischief. Sandy Foster's bed-and-breakfast was targeted by a vandal who broke car windows in her parking lot and spray painted profanity on her wall; and Bree Ingram's pickup truck and stable doors were defaced by large red X's. Chief Daly and his detectives look into these incidents - unsure whether they are pranks or threats.



Mercy and Truman think the confluence of these events - the discovery of the body and the vandalism - may be more than coincidental....and a reporter seems to agree with them. To Mercy's chagrin, an ambitious young journalist called Tabitha Huff is determined to write about the corpse related to the Gamble-Helmet Heist. So Tabitha stalks people who have information about Ellis Mull.....and interviews Sandy and Bree about the sabotage.



All this leads to violence and death before the various cases are solved.

Other characters that add interest to the story include Lucas - Sandy's son, who works for the Police Department; Rose - Mercy's blind sister, who's engaged and about to have a baby; Karl - Mercy's father, who (reluctantly) helps out in a pinch; Kaylie - Mercy's pretty teenage niece, who works in a coffee shop; Ollie - Truman's teenage ward, who has a crush on Kaylie; and Shep - Ollie's dog.

I enjoyed the mystery, which has an interesting plot and provides a peek into the prepper community.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Kendra Elliott) and the publisher (Montlake Romance) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars