Christy Barritt’s Hunted

By Kelly Bridgewater

Have you ever read any of the mysteries or romantic suspense books written by Christy Barritt? If no, why not? Her eBooks are pretty cheap, and they are great. I enjoyed every single one of Christy Barritt’s books. If you haven’t read any of her funny mysterious books, then you should go buy one. Go ahead. Download one. I’ll be right here when you return.

Now that you have bought one, I’ll give you my opinion of her latest book, Hunted. Christy Barritt started publishing the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries” in February of 2011, according to the copyright date on Amazon for the first book, Hazardous Duty. Currently, there are nine books in the series. From the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries,” Barritt has created two spin off series. One is the Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries and the other is The Sierra Files. Hunted is the second book in The Sierra Files. Pounced is the first one.

As a cozy mystery, Barritt does a good job at allowing her heroine Sierra to be thrown into the mystery when she visits home to celebrate her parents’ vow renewal. Being a huge animal activist, a dog slips into the house and the hunt for its owner causes Sierra and her husband, Chad to be thrown head first into a mystery surrounding the dog and the neighborhood where Sierra grew up. Sierra is Gabby St. Clair’s, who is the main character in the “Squeaky Clean Mysteries,” best friend. Sierra usually leaves the mystery solving up to Gabby, but she isn’t around, and Sierra feels bad for the dog who she believes the owners don’t want. Barritt does a good job at keeping the person behind the mystery hidden from the audience until the end. I wandered right along with Sierra as she followed the clues, determined to find out who killed the body in the forest.

As a heroine, Sierra is very empathic for the readers to understand. We have all kept a secret from our parents because we didn’t think our parents would approve, or it would give them another reason to be disappointed in us. I like how Barritt showed over and over again that Sierra tried to stop the bad things from ruining her parents’ special day, but the bad occurrences kept piling higher and higher.

Enters Chad. The ex-mortician and current crime scene cleaner who is a partner with Gabby St. Clair back in Virginia, where Sierra and Chad reside. Chad was the loving husband who came along to meet his in-laws, even though the parents didn’t know they were married. He supports Sierra in all her plans to pursue the answer to the mystery and always knows the right thing to say at the right moment. He is the type of man every good woman should have standing behind them, supporting them even if they honestly think they’re a little crazy.

The theme of forgiveness runs rampart through the story. If Sierra would have been honest with her parents from the beginning, then she would have seen how much her parents really loved her. On the other hand, her parents had some secrets they needed to share with Sierra and her siblings. By being honest, hurts were put aside and true love exploded on the page of the book.

I enjoyed the mystery and look forward to more books about Sierra and her husband, Chad.

I received a copy of this book from Christy Barritt in exchange for an honest review.