This didn’t feel like Friday Night Lights at all except it was in small town Texas and everyone knows each other. The mystery part of the book was slow moving and painful at times to get through. And right when you feel like a motive is established it was thrown away, the real motive was revealed, and the motive was basic and lazy. I wish certain characters were fleshed out more and the plot more developed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the arc.

I just love mysteries that are set in small towns. I felt like I was in the story sitting in the cafe watching things happen. The book had the mystery going till the very end and I hope that this becomes a series.

Pay Dirt Road got off to a rather slow start. The plot centers on new college graduate Annie, who returns somewhat aimlessly to her home in rural Texas to be a waitress and then move on to being a private investigator. She helps her beloved grandfather, Leroy who is known in the small town of Garnett for a past in law enforcement. The cast of characters and Annie's struggles with her past are intriguing and are skillfully interwoven with the murder of Annie's co-worker, Victoria. The plot expertly considers several issues that can become significant in a small, rural, Texan town. Descriptions of the stark geography of the area also add credence to the plot, and ultimately, the reader is firmly drawn into the story.

Any book set in small town Texas I am here for! I loved Annie and her progression throughout the book- deciding what she really wanted to do with her life. When the death of her coworker leads her to become a private detective. The mystery kept me guessing and I loved the ending.
I'm hoping this may be part of a series.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced readers copy.

I really enjoyed Pay Dirt Road and look forward to reading more by Samantha Jayne Allen. Annie is back in her small Texas Hill Country town after graduating from college. She’s living with her wild cousin, Nicki, and seeing old flames Justin and Wyatt. When a waitress goes missing, Annie is determined to find out what happened.
The story read smoothly and quickly. Set in a small oil dominant town, there are numerous motivations and people to suspect.

I read this title for NetGalley for an honest review. I really got into this mystery and loved reading the pieces of info leading up to finding out who the perp was. When a friend, Victoria, disappears and is found murdered after a bonfire, Annie joins forces with her grandfather, Leroy, to find out what happened to her. The closer they get, to the truth the more dangerous the investigation becomes. As an event from Annie’s past begins to resurface she wonders if there is any correlation to Victoria’s death. I enjoyed these characters and the entire story. I didn’t guess the killer until later in the book and liked that reveal too. I would recommend this read and would look for other titles by this author.

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen is one of the snippets from The Minotaur Sampler, Volume 4: New Books to Make Your Heart Race, that I liked well enough to get my hands on the entire novel. The story is set in a fictional oil town in Texas called Garnett, where Annie McIntyre works as a waitress. She’s a recent college graduate with plenty of gumption by not much sense of direction. When her grandpa Leroy, who is supposedly retired, entices her into the family’s private investigation business, Annie finds herself deeply enmeshed in something far beyond anything she has ever experienced.

Victoria is a waitress at the restaurant where Annie works. The last time Annie sees her is at a party; she fails to show up for work the next day, and Annie recalls seeing her, appearing quite drunk, making out with a guy at the party. She thinks maybe she went home with him or is sleeping it off. But when Victoria fails to return her texts or calls, Annie goes to her house. Not long afterward, she learns that her body has been found. This is just after a hit-and-run accident that killed a man. Things like this don’t happen in Garnett, Texas. Are the two deaths related?

Annie is supposed to just do clerical jobs, according to Mary-Pat Zimmerman, Leroy’s partner, but Leroy takes her along on his excursions to dig up information. At times, however, it is Annie who does much of the questioning, as Leroy comes across as a laid-back former sheriff just a’ lookin’ fer a howdy – and a beer. We don’t often see Leroy without a drink. Mary-Pat, on the other hand, is pretty much all business, and she is quite concerned about Annie’s safety when the going gets tough. And it does. A suspect is arrested. Annie and others who know him are in disbelief. Annie is out to find the real culprit, but will anyone give her a chance? Will they believe her?

Annie has gone through tough times before, but her family and friends don’t know it, not even her cousin Nikki, who is her best friend. The two young women live together, hang out together, and share secrets – at least some of them. But there are some things that Annie does not share. These are things that she recalls as she reflects upon the life and death of her friend Victoria. Victoria became a mother too soon and was in the process of getting a divorce. She was experiencing freedom again, and this caused small town tongues to wag. People, even those close to her, judged her. Annie, it seems, comes to feel differently.

If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, you won’t find it in this book. This is a slow, Texas drawl. It’s about the good and the bad of family, small town living, and the oil business. There are cultural issues like alcoholism and abuse of women. There’s the glass ceiling that Mary-Pat has cracked, and perhaps Annie will too. Are there stereotypes? Yes, of course. Our society is full of them, and art reflects those. This is a commendable debut novel by Samantha Jayne Allen.

I wish to thank NetGalley, the author, and Minotaur Books for the ARC copy of Pay Dirt Road in return for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pay Dirt Road revolves around a Texas small-town mystery as thick as the crowd at a Friday night’s football game. Samantha Jayne Allen blends the dynamic of a small, tired town with a thrilling list of suspects.
Annie left her hometown for college, but she returns four years later to find most things unchanged. She picks up a job in a diner to avoid pressure about choosing a career, but her calling finds her when a fellow co-worker goes missing. The list of potential offenders is long, from a disgruntled mother-in-law to an agency the victim had recently refused when they made an offer to put a pipeline through her land. Can Annie help her grandfather, a local private investigator, prove the innocence of the most likely culprit, or will she get entangled in the web of deceit and be the next victim?
I was impressed with the descriptions of the setting and characters. Garnett could be like any other rural town, after some of the high school graduates leave for college, or come back from college, and the homecoming court and football stars remain in the same small circles. I enjoyed the journey of the main character as she discovered her strength and came to terms with a past incident she wanted to forget.
I was given an advanced reader copy of this book for my honest review. I recommend the story for experienced readers, due to mature content.

Thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan publishers for this Kindle ARC of Samantha Jayne Allen's debut mystery. It takes place in Garnett, a small West Texas town, and this author really has nailed the setting, atmosphere, and feeling of this little community. Her skilled prose paints a picture of life and the people in such a way that I felt like I would recognize it immediately. The main character, Annie McIntyre, is fresh out of college and back home with huge educational loans and no future plans. I found her very, very young and immature, but struggling mightily with past failed relationship indiscretion issues and worries. She lives in an apartment with her cousin and is working as a server/waitress in the town's one diner. Her grandfather Leroy, the former town sheriff, owns a tiny private investigator business which is manned almost solely by Mary Pat, a smart and practical woman who offers Annie a job " helping out." But when a coworker at the diner disappears and is found murdered Annie and her grandfather begin an investigation that quickly becomes edgy and dangerous. The story not only has fully developed and sympathetic characters, but the plot is also well done. There are a few possibilities for whodunit, and I didn't guess correctly, either. The book isn't perfect; I found it a bit too slow sometimes. But it was definitely an enjoyable mystery with characters I could understand. If you like small town mysteries I recommend it.

Searching for a missing waitress Annie and Leroy discover much about their past . Small town murder but affecting many . The most obvious answer isn't always right. Good story!

Too slow for me. And it took too long to get into the meat of the mystery. I skimmed a lot. The characters acted like teenagers instead of young adults. A lot of the plot involve flash back events in high school. The mystery was ok but I wasn't moved to care. Everyone drank too much and hung out in bars or parties. Plus a lot of description of small town Texas. Sounded dreadful.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Pay Dirt Road is set in small town texas, and the main character, annie, just came home and is working with her grandfather who owns a pi agency in order to pay back some of her student debt. Then one of her friends whom works at the diner with her turns up dead so the mystery is basically trying to figure out what happened to her friend.

The story itself was a decent mystery. My only 2 complaints were the pace of the book is pretty slow and the author jumps around a lot. But overall not a bad book, would recommend for mystery lovers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for a honest review.

I loved it! The mystery was great but, oh how vivid the descriptions were. The people and places all had a depth that you could feel. Annie is very intelligent with an honest drive and you know that one day she will rise above the dullness and alcoholism that surrounds her. Her thoughts on ordinary matters were interesting and insightful. I enjoyed reading this!

This is the kind of psychological thriller that has you thinking about what is important in life. It both tells the story of a young woman, trying to find herself, trying to figure out what happened to a murdered friend, and what happened to her years before. The story is compelling and well written and stays with you.

This was a beautfully written, at times, a profound book. It was also a slow burn, almost painfully slow esp in the beginning as we were aware of what could happen and how it would affect her. It is a love story to family and the land and to life.

This book leaves a lot to be desired. There is so many layers that the author wants you to care about, yet she doesn't tell them all.
The relationship between Annies dad an Leroy. Leroy and Mary pat, etc.
The other thing with this book was the segues were baffling.
For instance, Annie and Leroy go to a honky tonk, the prime suspects come in and Annie steps into the shadows.
THE NEXT SENTENCE is Annie and Leroy waking up in her car.
WHAT HAPPENED?!
Another time, Annie goes swimming in a river, the next minute she is back with a Wyatt? but then Wyatt is really there.
This book is a meh book. Not great, not even that good, but I was in between reviews, so I read it.

Better thriller/mystery books out there.

A paint-by-numbers mystery that I will surely forget about by next month. Our lead character is a cypher to follow around, a vanilla wafer turned into a human being, although I don't mean to slander vanilla wafers.

Serious problems and societal issues are introduced to artificially lend the plot gravity. The trite, superficial handling of such issues is lazy plotting at best, actively harmful at worst.

The dialogue is stale and unrealistic. In almost every scene, a character is interrogated, and they immediately confess new information or deny everything. Either way, Annie says "OK," and walks away, evidently blessed with the poorest investigative detective skills since the child contestants on "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

I enjoyed this book, the characters and setting are very believable. I really liked the environmental element. I would definitely read more from Samantha Jayne Allen.

This was an interesting mystery with a small town Texas attitude.
From the publisher: Friday Night Lights meets Mare of Easttown in this small-town mystery about an unlikely private investigator searching for a missing waitress. Pay Dirt Road is the mesmerizing debut from the 2019 Tony Hillerman Prize recipient Samantha Jayne Allen.
Annie McIntyre has a love/hate relationship with Garnett, Texas.
Recently graduated from college and home waitressing, lacking not in ambition but certainly in direction, Annie is lured into the family business—a private investigation firm—by her supposed-to-be-retired grandfather, Leroy, despite the rest of the clan’s misgivings.
When a waitress at the café goes missing, Annie and Leroy begin an investigation that leads them down rural routes and haunted byways, to noxious-smelling oil fields and to the glowing neon of local honky-tonks. As Annie works to uncover the truth she finds herself identifying with the victim in increasing, unsettling ways, and realizes she must confront her own past—failed romances, a disturbing experience she’d rather forget, and the trick mirror of nostalgia itself—if she wants to survive this homecoming.

The book is as described, but I thought it was slow in places and almost gave up. However, the plotting was suspenseful and the characters well done, regardless of the mistakes Annie makes as a first time investigator. 4 stars.

PAY DIRT ROAD is gritty, emotional and intriguing debut. Allen has a true gift for creating a sense of place. I could completely envision her family's land (aka "the place"), the lonely rural roads where tragedy strikes, the cafe where Annie works and Yesterday Once More, the VFW Hall where she goes to hear the country and western songs from her childhood. Allen's characters are fully realized; I could feel her grandfather's pain and her own shame and sorrow from past events. But best of all, the resolution of the story made sense. Too often, stories of this kind have a crazy, unimaginable ending that requires a complete suspension of disbelief. No so in PAY DIRT ROAD. While I didn't suspect the "villain", when the person was revealed, it made perfect sense. I am really looking forward to reading more from this gifted author.