Lot's Return to Sodom
A Liv Bergen Mystery by Sandra Brannan
Review: Amateur sleuth Liv Bergen is in the wrong place at the wrong time when — though she might think it to be the right place at the right time — when a young woman is found murdered during a motorcyle rally in Lot's Return to Sodom, the second mystery in this series by Sandra Brannan.
Sturgis, South Dakota, has drawn all sorts of people to the annual rally in the Black Hills: businessmen, doctors, lawyers, ... and a gang of bikers known as Lucifer's Lot, Mully their menacing leader. Liv witnesses Mully and his gang tormenting a young woman, Michelle, who is later found dead. But despite Liv's assertions that Lucifer's Lot is responsible, the police focus their attention on the dead woman's boyfriend, Liv's brother Jens, who was reportedly the last person to see her alive. As the authorities proceed with their investigation, Liv is not far away, watching, listening, and taking pictures. The problem is: someone is also nearby ... watching Liv.
Lot's Return to Sodom is a fast-reading mystery, helped along by the intelligent and feisty Liv Bergen. The stereotype of the evil biker is turned a bit on its head as there are all sorts of motorcycle enthusiasts presented in the story ... and not always in the manner to which one might expect. Not unexpectedly there is a romantic angle with FBI Agent Streeter frequently catching Liv's eye, diverting her attention from the threat she seems to pose to the killer. To be sure, there's not much substance to the murder mystery itself, but all in all Lot's Return to Sodom is a pleasant way to while away a lazy afternoon.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Lot's Return to Sodom.
Acknowledgment: JKS Communications provided an ARC of Lot's Return to Sodom for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
In the Belly of Jonah
Greenleaf Book Group Press (Trade Paperback), September 2010
ISBN-13: 9781608320509; ISBN-10: 1608320502
Location(s) referenced in Lot's Return to Sodom: South Dakota
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Lot's Return to Sodom by Sandra Brannan
Publisher: Greenleaf Books
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-10: 1-60832-119-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-60832-119-3
Publication Date: June 2011
List Price: $14.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is no place for button-downed citizens — unless they're trying to hide a murder.
Sharp-witted Liv Bergen can't avoid becoming embroiled in murders, it seems. Her family's hometown of Sturgis, South Dakota, is quickly becoming the Sodom of the Black Hills during the dog days of summer as it hosts the infamous rally of grizzled hard-core motorcycle bikers — half a million of them. Crime comes too close for comfort when Liv must solve the mystery of a beautiful young townie to clear her brother's name.
Liv witnesses the vile death of another young woman, and during her investigation of both crimes she attracts the uninvited attentions of the menacing leader of Lucifer's Lot — the baddest of the bad biker gangs. Her quick wit and pragmatic thinking are all that stands between her and certain elimination.
FBI agent Streeter Pierce is back on the trail, working undercover to find the murderer and a shadow criminal called the Crooked Man. When he and Liv cross paths, sparks are flying, literally.