As Mud Run Murder by Leslie Langtry opens, Merry Wrath comes upon the body of the pizza delivery guy in Rex’s driveway and does a little dance. It’s not that she’s happy that the man is dead but rather that for once, the body isn’t “hers,” on her property. Since Rex, detective of the small town of Who’s There, Iowa, is now busy investigating the crime scene at his own home, Merry decides to go to a movie and randomly selects Spy Diary. At first she laughs to recognize some of the same tricks she once played to get out of sticky situations as a spy, but soon her humor turns to shock and then horror to see her whole career being played out on the screen, albeit with a man playing herself. It doesn’t take long before the movie gets canceled and all mention of it online gets erased.
Since no one but Merry and Riley, her handler, could have known such details, the CIA now suspects Merry of committing treason by revealing classified information. And speaking of Riley, is Merry hallucinating, or does she keep catching glimpses of him throughout her town? As the chaos continues, Merry has to plan for her girl scout troop’s mud run competition while also watching her relationship with Rex fall on rocky ground.
I have long enjoyed the first four books in the Merry Wrath series, but since those are the only ones available on audio, I couldn’t enjoy the rest of the books. But my migraines are a little better now, so I determined to find out what would happen next to Merry and her group of friends. The added strain on my head was worth it, and I was definitely not disappointed!
Mud Run Murder is an incredibly fun, humorous book with a solid mystery plot as well. I laughed so hard that my husband insisted I share the joke. I especially enjoyed the scene where Merry, who knows nothing whatsoever about babies, babysits her 2-month-old goddaughter and practices putting on a new diaper using her cat as a model. She still ends up putting on the diaper backwards. The mystery plot was a little obscure at times, such that I couldn’t begin to guess the solutions to the numerous questions that arise. But the fun of the book overshadows that issue, making it less important to the overall experience of the book. I give this book five stars!
