Cozy Cull [6] - Sketch Me If You Can by Sharon Pape

According to Merriam-Webster:

Definition of CULL

1 : to select from a group : choose  

2 : to reduce or control the size of (as a herd) by removal (as by hunting) of especially weaker animals; also : to hunt or kill (animals) as a means of population control

This is a (semi-)weekly giveaway.  Please spread the word, even if you've already read this week's book. 

The plan is:

1. Each week I read one of the MANY cozy mysteries I have among my personal books.  
2. I write a post about it. 
3. Then I offer it in a giveaway in order to cull my "herd" of cozies... as "a means of population control."

 This week I have a copy of the first in the Portrait of Crime Mystery series, Sketch Me If You Can, by Sharon Pape (published August 2010). 

You can find my thoughts on Sketch Me If You Can here.

From Goodreads: 

She's a police sketch artist. He's a dead lawman. Together, they put a face on murder.

When her uncle dies suddenly, police sketch artist Rory McCain inherits a list of clients from his private detective business and a beautiful, old house with a ghostly inhabitant: Federal Marshal Ezekiel Drummond, aka Zeke.

Having a ghost as a housemate is bad enough, but as Rory's drawn into one of her uncle's unsolved cases and faces a cold-blooded killer, she may need the marshal's supernatural help to stay alive.

Just comment that you'd like to enter and provide an email address to contact you should you win. Open to everyone.

Giveaway ends Thursday, January 3rd (11:59 pm CT). I'll give the winner 48 hours from the time of notification to respond before I move on to someone else. The winner will be announced here once I've received a reply to my email. 

The winner of this Cozy Cull giveaway is Sue!

Sketch Me If You Can

Title: Sketch Me If You Can

Author: Sharon Pape

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Series: Portrait of Crime Mystery, Bk 1

ISBN: 9780425236048

Pages: 293

Obtained: personal copy - Purchased from Borders closing sale

Comments:

Let's be frank.  I've been going through a reading slump.  I'm sure as my fellow readers, you understand that said slumps don't really reflect the quality of the books you're reading.  I was just having concentration issues among other things.  Please keep that in mind when I say that I read this over the course of a few weeks.

The idea of a mystery series centered around a sketch artist really caught my interest.  And then I found out there was some paranormal aspect (a ghost as it turns out), and my interest was further peaked.  But it still took me awhile to read this book.  I kept offering it as a possibility for my Cozy Cull giveaway and while no one actually requested it, as soon as no other requests were made, well... that was all the motivation I needed to finally get started.

Rory is a great character.  She's a police detective, but because her job is sketch artist she's pretty under-utilized outside of that role.  And she's starting to find herself in a rut of sorts.  But she has recently found herself the beneficiary of her uncles house and PI agency when he passes.  And suddenly she finds new doors are opening, along with her eyes and her perception of the paranormal.

While Rory is on the police force, I believe this can still qualify as a cozy mystery.  Among other things, the mystery du jour is something Rory is investigating outside of her regular job.  But call it what you will, it's an fun mystery.

I did guess who the murderer was, but enjoyed Zeke (the ghost) and Rory's way to figuring out who and why (which I did not guess).

I really hope to read more of the series.  The second book, To Sketch a Thief and the third, Sketch a Falling Star are both out and available so I should be able to move forward with this series soon.