Review: Quick, entertaining read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2014
In this story, Bruce Kohler, a recovering alcoholic, his best friend and fellow AA member Jimmy, and Jimmy’s wife, Barbara, a Friend of Lois’s (and Bruce’s) spend some time at a healing retreat/summer camp for adults.  Someone gets dead, Bruce falls for the chief suspect and Bruce, Jimmy and Barbara set out to solve who, what, where, when, and why.This "novella," fourth in the Bruce Kohler series, is billed as a prequel to the earlier books in the series, but I only found that out after I read it and went looking to find out where it fell in the series.  To me it just seemed like the next logical step.The author’s portrayal of 12-step programs, slogans and dialogue from meetings is spot on.  I like that Bruce sometimes struggles, but sticks to his program, just like in real life.  The dialogue is witty, the place descriptions vivid and the more I read, the more I’ve come to care about these characters.  If I were a new fan, this would have been good enough to make me search out the other books in the series.  As it is, I’m looking forward to hearing more from Bruce, Jimmy and Barbara.