Very pregnant police Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne and her partner Hollis Jones are called to Poison Spring Ranch to investigate the slaughter of a prize bull and subsequently discover the murdered body of the ranch’s owner, popular local rancher Mike Draper not far from the scene of the bull’s death. Draper has been shot in the front seat of his pickup truck and the clues are few and far between.

As Maggie and Hollis investigate, they discover many of the local residents had a reason to despise Draper, including his wife and son. With just a couple of weeks until her due date, Maggie is determined to solve the crime and nab the perpetrator. But it takes lots of miles in the rural area and plenty of interviews.

The author has created an intriguing mystery with a cast of well-developed characters, even the secondary characters. Even the setting seemed to have a character that affected the solving of the crime.

This is book four of this wonderful series. This time a very pregnant Maggie Blackthorne and her partner Hollis Jones are investigating the murder of a local rancher. Good story with lots of suspects.

An intriguing mystery for Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne. Maggie and her partner are called to investigate the slaughter of a prize bull. They locate the dead bull, but when they search for the owner, they find him shot and killed in the front seat of his pickup truck. Who could have killed this respected member of the community and why? As Maggie and Trooper Hollis Jones spend many hours driving around the area interviewing his neighbors, they soon learn that he wasn’t as respected as they first thought. There are several possible suspects including complaints against him when he was a county commissioner, the neighbors he stole water from, the women he had affairs with and his mistreatment of his own son and wife. Maggie is two weeks away from her due date, will she be able to wrap up the case before her baby is born? A comprehensive police procedural as the evidence will eventually lead them to the killer. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

I just love Police Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne – no nonsense, straight forward.
Maggie and here partner Hollis Jones are called out to Poison Spring Ranch where the owner has reported one of his bulls has been slaughtered. Nice and easy thing to investigate for Maggie who is close to her due date and not one to slow down. Maggie and Hollis find the bull, and a little further down the bulls owner, Mik, shot in his truck. Things just a got a little more complicated, and things are not what they seem.
Enjoyable read like always!

This was a fun read, especially since I grew up near the setting and the descriptions were so spot on. I miss the John Day River!
Even if I didn't have that personal connection though, it was a good mystery with believable characters. The author clearly knows Eastern/Central Oregon. I enjoyed how it was a police procedural and didn't have the protagonist in mortal peril at all times. More of a mystery than a thriller. I'll have to go back and read the earlier books in the series now.

I have raed all the books about Maggie Blackthorne by LaVonne Griffin-Valade and Poison Spring the fourth book in the series is by far the best one. The character development is great and the writing is only getting better for each book. The setting is the same and so are most of the characters. For each new adventure we get to know more about the people who lives here and we also get new characters moving in. I have always liked the small town mystery and the fact that the resources are different in this type of setting compared to big city mysteries. I do really recommend this series and thank Severn River Publishing and Netgalley for letting me read this book.

This is a good book to read when you want to get swept away in the descriptions of both setting and characters. I found the descriptions of the land so captivating that the plot almost came second!

When Maggie and her group investigate the murder of a local rancher it gets more and more complex. A good story overall, and it kept my interest to the end, and the ending was unexpected. Would recommend.

Many thanks to both Severn River Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Poison Spring.

The murder of a beloved ranch owner has shocked the entire county. It falls on Police Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne and her team to unmask a killer hiding in plain sight.

I was very pleased to receive an ARC for this book, since I live in Oregon, and I'm always drawn to books set in my home state! This is the fourth book in the Maggie Blackthorne series, and the first I've read. Maggie is a strong female protagonist, even when she's about to have a baby any moment! I liked Maggie, her partner, Hollis, as well as her husband Duncan.

I liked Poison Spring, although I didn't love it. It seemed to me there was too much extraneous detail that broke the rhythm of the story, such as a description of someone walking away and putting papers down on a table, or gathering their trash, or where someone turned in order to reach their destination, or where someone moved to, in order to talk to another person etc., etc.

Having said that, the descriptions of the areas around John Day were wonderful! They made me eager to visit the area, myself. And the twist at the end of the story totally surprised me!

Sergeant Maggie Blackthorne is really tired of being coddled because she's pregnant and determined to find the culprit who murdered a former county commissioner before she goes into labor. With no shortage of suspects--and a dead bull thrown in the mix--she may be cutting it close. Good solid police procedural with a strong female lead.

Thanks to Severn River Publishing for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.