Winter Takes All

A Seattle Wilderness Mystery, Book 1

By: ML Erdahl

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Crystal Rainey is aghast when she realizes her New Year's resolutions haven't changed one whit from the previous year. Wanting to escape a future as dreary as a Pacific Northwest winter, she walks out on her dead-end office job, despite her tenuous savings account.

Stumbling across a job opening posted by a wilderness guide outfit, an intrigued Crystal bluffs her way into the position. With her handsome fellow guide, the stalwart Conner Oakes, she leads a corporate retreat on a snowshoe hike to a majestic alpine chalet.

But when the company's detestable owner turns up dead in the snow, she fears her new life and budding romance slipping away. She finally has something worth fighting for and is determined to solve the murder and grab her chance at happiness before it's too late.

©2019 ML Erdahl (P)2019 The Wild Rose Press

3.5 stars

It was easy to listen to, nothing special or spectacular. It's a cozy "read", narrated at a good pace, and just interesting enough to keep listening to. A little outlandish and eye rolling sometimes, and the story seemed a little jagged or choppy, but none of that interrupted the flow to the point of annoyance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Giggleworthy!

romantic, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor

She spontaneously quit her awful job and got a new job she was totally inexperienced in, what could possibly go wrong?
While shopping for snowshoes she meets a yummy guy who offers to teach her the skill, then it turns out that they work for the same company of winter guides. On the very first trip, the guests don't get along, drink to excess, and one of them winds up dead. The cozy mystery is pretty well done, the budding romance is entertaining, and the humor is really giggle worthy!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Wild Rose Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Later I won the audio!!!

Great narrator telling an even better story

I really enjoyed this narrator she captured the drama and suspense and even the romance. This book has a little bit for everyone.

Great Start to a New Series

When she realizes that her New Year's resolution is identical to last year and that nothing has improved, Crystal decides to go make a big change. After quitting a dead end job and exaggerating her experience with the outdoors, she lands a job as a wilderness guide. Unfortunately for her, on the first night of her first outing, one of the guests is found dead. Until the case is solved, all outings are placed on hold. Needing to keep her income, Crystal begins "assisting" the police in their investigation. This was a fun read/listen that included an quirky cast of characters, a little romance, humor and mystery.

This was my first experience with author M.L. Erdahl but I would love to hear more from him, especially the Seattle Wilderness Mystery series. This was a unique occupation for the lead in a cozy mystery and I would love to see more of Crystal as she tries to find her groove as a wilderness guide and to watch as her relationship with Connor develope. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

New Jobs Can Be Deadly

A young woman quits her office job and signs on as a guide for snow shoeing adventures, but her first outing goes horribly wrong and one of the participants ends up dead. When the death turns out to be murder she and her guiding partner turn sleuth to find the killer.
Chock full of meddling parents, dysfunctional office relationships, unreliable vehicles, a little romance and a whole lot of smiles, Winter Takes All is a fun romp through the cozy mystery genre.
Crystal is the perfect cozy mystery heroine; good-hearted, a bit naive, determined and very lucky as she works to piece together what happened on the fateful night when her first back-woods adventure went so horribly wrong all while dealing with the financial, vehicular, employment and romantic challenges that seem to plague today's young literary heroines.
I enjoyed puzzling out the events of this light-hearted cozy mystery.