This title introduces a young college graduate from small-town Texas, Annie McIntyre. Annie is unsure what to do with her life and joins her private investigator grandfather in investigating the murder of one of her waitress co-workers. The strength of this book is its portrayal of life in a small-town; it feels rather like a coming-of-age story, almost, more than a murder investigation. Annie is also working out some of her own feelings about the past.

The narration of this audiobook fit because the protagonist was a twenty-something gal. She did a good job.

The mystery is OK, but seems to drag at times. It might be interesting to see how Annie continues to grow, so I'm still deciding whether to read the next volume in the series. I do enjoy rural settings for mysteries and Annie has potential. I just tire of too much angst in my main characters. If she settles in to the new job and doesn't dwell too much on her own life, I may find the next mystery interesting.

Thanks goes to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC, in return for an honest review.

well.... I actually did not like this one. it didn't cover any new grounds and it was like I was reading bits and part of other mystery books. the main character was ok and likeable but not memorable. at no point was I biting my nails of and or got worried or excited. it was just ok. not bad, not good.

Very good read highly recommended. I totally recommend this book to friends and family it does not disappoint. Hope to read more books by this author in the near future.

After graduating college Annie comes back to her hometown. After her friend from work gets murder she helps her grandpa, Leroy, in his private investigation firm track down her killer. This wasn't what she was expecting to do after college, but she feels like it was something she needed to do. Can she help her grandpa find who killed her friend?

I liked Annie and her cousin, Nikki. I also liked Annie's relationship with her grandpa, it made me miss mine. This book was more on the slow burn side, but I feel the author did a great job at wrapping things up nicely. I figured out what happend, so the twist wasn't shocking. For a debut novel the author did a good job. I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with.

“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.”

I found Pay Dirt Road to be a good investigative drama. It was somewhat predictable with some plot holes that were disguised as misdirects, but overall it was your typical small town murder mystery. I wanted to see more about the oil fields and Annie coming to appreciate her hometown again. It seemed like a setup for more books. For me, this one was a 3.5/5.

I received a copy of this audiobook free from Recorded Books Media in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance Ebook/ Audio in exchange for my honest review.

This is about Annie who comes home after college and not being able to find a job in her field so she comes home and starts waitressing and then starts working with her grandfather as a PI. when one of her fellow waitress is found dead. Annie wants to help to get to the bottom of what happen to her friend.

This book follows her looking for clues and getting to the bottom of what happen.

I felt the pacing a little slow there was just a lot of random moments in the story that didn't help advance the story for me. I had a feeling it was 1 of 2 people and I was spot on with the 2nd choice. Once she had memories from old parties things starting clicking.

I wish the pacing was a little bit faster and the end once we go there was a over far to fast for me.

I would be interested in reading more from this author since this was her debut.

Thank you Netgalley and Recorded Books for the gifted audiobook I read alongside the physical ARC I got from Minotaur.

A pitch perfect portrayal of small town Texas. Annie has ended up back in her hometown after college and is unsure what is next on her life trajectory. When her fellow waitress from the local diner goes missing, she finds herself working with her grandfather, the former sheriff turned PI, to figure out who is responsible. She stumbles into crime solving, clues, and actually the conclusion of this case. Which could be marked as detrimental to this book, but I think it is an excellent series opener because it gives her so much room to grow and develop as an investigator. Sometimes detectives are too on the nose and almost clairvoyant in their crime solving skills, but Annie has grit and I think she is going to have such a great character arc over this series.

A wistful, melancholy crime drama.

The author successfully evokes large, old-fashioned white families in rural America - a bit clueless, a bit warty with prejudices, but normal people at the edge of a way of life.

The cast isn't particularly diverse, but there are Latinx and at least one queer character.

Sandy Rustin provides a companionable, natural voice for the southern characters.

This feels like it could be the start of a series, and if it is, I'd pick up the next one. But the ending is closed enough that I found the story as a whole satisfying on its own, too.

Being from small town KY, I was drawn to the Friday Night Lights murder mystery synopsis. I was expecting some serious small town drama…. But not so much in this read. I think this story had potential, but it just didn’t do it for me. There were a lot of characters that I had trouble connecting with and keeping track of. The mystery was pretty simple, but I felt like there were some holes and loose ends.

I will note that I loved the narrator. There’s just something about a southern accent!

This story was hard for me to follow. I was very interested, but it just didn't come together throughout the story. Thank you for the opportunity to read.

After graduating college, and not sure what to do next, Annie returns to her small town in Texas. She finds herself brought into her grandfather Leroy's private investigating firm. When a local waitress goes missing, and a hit-and-run occurs, Leroy and Annie start investigating to see if the two deaths are related, and things begin to hit a bit to close to home.

This was a very slow-paced read, and I never fully got into the story. I feel like this would make a good lifetime movie, it just gives off those vibes. I wasn't the biggest fan of Annie, just something about her rubbed me the wrong way. I just found her to be a bit uninteresting, and I didn't care about anything that happened to her. I listened to the audiobook, and do think the narrator did a good job with the voices and characters. But, overall I just found this to be a very average read, nothing special in my opinion.

This was a great story. I thought it would be a thriller but it was more of a mystery. I really like the main character. She wanted to help her friend but was also young and wanted to just be a regular person and let go. I would recommend it!

My husband and I listened to this audiobook on a long car ride. Unfortunately, we both felt that it was just okay. It mostly held our interest, but it felt slow and wasn’t all that engrossing. There was a fabulous sense of place, however, with the story taking taking place in a small town in Texas.

The main character, Annie, is a recent college graduate who is waitressing in her home town while she tries to figure out her next move. One of her coworkers goes missing and that forms the basis of the book’s main mystery. Her family has a tradition of law enforcement and her grandfather, a former sheriff, now has a small private investigation company with a female partner. Annie starts to work with her grandfather and partner, but she doesn’t have the experience to safely investigate and puts herself in danger over and over. One thing that I felt was realistic was how Annie felt about something that happened to her when she was in high school. (I can’t give more details without it being a spoiler.) A subtheme dealt with the effects of drilling for oil but its treatment of environmentalism was superficial at best.

If there’s a sequel, we’ll be skipping it. “Too many books, too little time.”

The audiobook was narrated beautifully by Sandy Rustin, who did a wonderful job with all the voices and accents.

Thank you to Recorded Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was very much like a ‘pass the time’ comfort read to me. It was a fine mystery with at least fairly likable characters.

Our main character, a young 20-something fresh out of college, isn’t sure what to do with her life just yet, and finds herself involved in the family business of solving crimes. When a coworker of hers is found murdered, Annie finds herself pushed to solve it and finding a reason to stay in her small town that she thought she escaped from with a college education.

The setting of deep Texas was utilized well to create a kind of culture around it. I think there were a little too many side characters and time jumping around that made the story a bit confusing and muddled occasionally. I guessed the culprit (go me!) but that didn’t make it less interesting in this case since it was a fairly good turn.

I did like its voice and perspective around feminism in the south and problems with rape culture in a lot of the communities around it. Patriarchy was the real villain here and I can get behind that.

Overall, it was an easy listen and a decent way to spend a few hours. It felt like cable tv.

"Lacking not in ambition, but certainly in direction" was written and sums up my feelings. I had the audiobook and would have liked a different narrator. The story was juvenile with signs of one day being an adult book. Maybe this should be marked Teen or Young Adult.

The premise was interesting (I don't repeat the synopsis or give spoilers). I did love how the author put Annie on the right track to solving the mystery. Annie overheard officers talking and that prompted her to step back and rethink. She received good advice.

There is profanity.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review Pay Dirt Road.

#NetGalley
#PayDirtRoad
#RecordedBooksMedia
#SamanthaJayneAllen

Narrator 5 stars
Loved this narrators voice and accent

Story 3 stars.
This story was very slow going. I personally would have enjoyed it more if it moved alot faster.
First time trying this author, would definitely give Samantha Jayne Allen another go as I enjoyed the characters and their stories

Standard Mystery Fare. I didn’t love or hate this one but nothing truly grabbed me. It’s a quick read.

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for sending me an audiobook arc of this title.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by RB Media.
This was a "slow burn" of a murder/crime mystery. I really enjoyed the story and the narrator. Small town, hard scrabble Texas was a new arena for me. The heroine of the story went through a tough coming of age which is graphic and difficult but had an important piece to solving the crime. Looking forward to more of Allen's work.

I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did, but I struggled so much with the story. The audiobook also didn’t appeal me, maybe I should’ve physically read it. I had a difficult time connecting with this story. I felt like I didn’t care too much about it and just wanted to finish it.

I've had PAY DIRT ROAD on my To Be Read list since last summer - "a small-town mystery about an unlikely private investigator" set in Texas and paired with an eye-catching cover? I'm interested.

Audiobook narrator Sandy Rustin was well cast for this first-person narrative, and pulled me right into the story. Annie McIntyre is back in her small hometown after graduating from college, saddled with student debt and working as a waitress. She runs into coworker Victoria (who's seemingly drunk) at a party, but then doesn't see her for days and gets concerned. Ultimately, Annie investigates what happened to Victoria alongside her supposed-to-be-retired PI grandfather.

PAY DIRT ROAD has a strong sense of place; author Samantha Jayne Allen did a great job evoking Texas and small towns, not to mention that feeling of running into people from high school years after graduation. A few tweaks to the plot would have made this one a rave; as is, I didn't love it, but I'm certainly interested in whatever Allen writes next.