Review of "Lewis Sinclair and the Gentlemen Cowboys: A Murder Mystery" by D.M.S. Fick

Lewis Sinclair and his band are about to finish their U.S. tour with an appearance at the biggest country music festival in the country. In a couple of days, 'Lewis Sinclair and the Gentlemen Cowboys' will take the stage at FallsFest, near the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

The fly in the ointment for Lew is the fact that his beautiful girlfriend, Ann-Dee Phillips, just broke up with him.



To add insult to injury, Lew's agent, Archie Grant, is now representing Ann-Dee, and has even shoehorned the aspiring singer into a spot at FallsFest.



Lew and the band were already planning to get rid of their lazy useless agent Archie. So after the clod makes a nuisance of himself when Lew is making his cement handprint on the Country Artist Walk of Fame, Lew punches Archie in the stomach and fires him.



Afterwards, Lewis Sinclair and the Gentlemen Cowboys are a big hit onstage, with a Ghost Riders medley and a rollicking cover of Hank Williams' Move It On Over.



At the 'meet and greet' afterwards the band meets a journalist called Chuck Nelson.....



.....and two amiable retirees named Charla and Magda, all of whom become important to the story.



The next morning, horrible agent Archie is found dead, with his head encased in cement on the Country Artist Walk of Fame. Lew and the band become suspects, and Lew decides to try to investigate the case himself, to (hopefully) keep them all out of prison.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks, and we learn Ann-Dee was once so poor she searched dumpsters for food, and elderly Magda was a Polish refugee after World War II.

The ancillary characters - including the band members, their friends and relatives, and the FallsFest personnel - round out the story, which is engaging and fun.



The careful reader will discern clues scattered through the story that help identify the killer, so this is a great book for armchair sleuths.



This is author D.M.S. Fick's debut novel, and it's a good one. Recommended to fans of cozy mysteries. 

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Jeremy Arthur, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, D.M.S. Fick, and Comcat Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars