The annual Cowboy Ranch Auction in Hazel Rock, Texas is approaching and Charli Rae Warren, who owns a Book Barn shop, encourages friends to make old damaged books into items like clocks, called repurposing. All the items will be up for auction to assist cowboys injured at rodeo riding. However, anywhere there's a good name to be enhanced, politicians gather; and rivalries over the cowboys also occur.

A REFERENCE TO MURDER is a small-town cosy mystery featuring Charli Rae Warren who was introduced in the first of the Book Barn Mystery series, FATAL FICTION. She has traded a life of teaching for one of running the bookstore her parents established. The store mascot is a friendly pink armadillo.

I would expect most cowboys to behave like gentlemen, but one in particular seems to have drunk too much because he gets very disrespectful of a pretty woman, and behaves in a way that's dangerous to others. His name is Dalton Hibbs and this reminds local gossips that Dalton's brother, a pro rider, vanished seven years ago. The last person known to have seen Wyatt was Scarlet, now owner of a hair salon and still a girl about town. The next morning, Dalton doesn't appear for a media event and some think history is repeating itself. Charli is attacked just outside her home by a man dressed as a cowboy, for no reason she knows. Someone has sure stirred up trouble!

The story is right up to the minute, with loutish behaviour occurring in view of phone cameras, and a character using an iPad to track the owner's phone location. Also, modern rodeo riding championships come with much bigger prize funds, making it potentially worth eliminating good competitors. Or is someone killing personal rivals for romance?

While the early part of the story takes time to establish the background, from the time the rodeo gets under way I was hooked. All the different personalities clash and everyone, even a huge rodeo bull called Twisted Mister, has a rough ride. As the Texas entertainment spectacle continues the problems just deepen. Former police detective Kym Roberts has written an electrifying tale in A REFERENCE TO MURDER.

Book Summary

Charli Rae Warren is back home in Hazel Rock, Texas, spending her time reading, collecting, and selling books—at least, the ones that don’t get eaten first by her father’s pet armadillo. Running the family bookstore is a demanding job, but solving murders on the side can be flat out dangerous . . .

The Book Barn is more than just a shop, it’s a part of the community—and Charli is keeping busy with a fundraising auction and the big rodeo event that’s come to town. That includes dealing with the Texas-sized egos of some celebrity cowboys, including Dalton Hibbs, a blond, blue-eyed bull rider who gets overly rowdy one night with the local hairdresser . . . and soon afterward, disappears into thin air.

Dalton’s brother also vanished seven years ago—and Charli is thrown about whether Dalton is a villain or a victim. After a close call with an assailant wielding a branding iron (that plays havoc with her hair), and some strange vandalism on her property, she’s going to have to team up with the sheriff to untangle this mystery, before she gets gored . . .