Homicide on the Range (A Hometown Mystery Book # 6) by Rosalie Spielman

From author Rosalie Spielman comes a wild western homicide!

US Army retiree Tessa Treslow is ready for a much-needed and romantic getaway with her boyfriend, Nick, to volunteer on a dude ranch for recovering combat veterans in Montana. What she gets instead is a whole crew from her little town of New Oslo, Idaho, tagging along. Her BFF Freddie, aka Deputy Frederickson, her aunt Edna, and the Prunn sisters are happy for a little vacation as well, but little do they realize, it's not going to be the rustic, idyllic visit to the range that they think it will be.

The other volunteers at the ranch are a variety of characters, from a jealous wife, to a multi-limb amputee, to a blast from Tessa's past, and a combative and unpleasant ranch cook. When the cook ends up dead along with sides of beef in the walk-in freezer, Tessa realizes the one of them is also a murderer! With Freddie stranded in town, Tessa teams up with the New Osloans—the only ones she can be sure didn't commit the crime—to take a closer look at the other volunteers. They soon learn that each and every cowboy wannabe knew the cook for more than just her buttery cooking, and each of them had a motive to want her dead.

To make matters much worse, not one but two wildfires are closing in on the ranch and cutting them off from the outside. What results is a locked-room style mystery where the crew from New Oslo are unsure which will prove more dangerous—a murderer or the wildfires!

" Clever & Compelling Gem! An excellent read and high on my list for 2023 honors."
~Kings River Life Magazine

"You will also fall in love with New Oslo and its residents and businesses. You will want to pack a bag and jump in your car and head there as fast as you can!"
~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews    (Summary via Goodreads)

Homicide on the Range is the sixth book in the Hometown Mystery Book series by Rosalie Spielman and I don't know if I have ever read a murder story where pretty much everyone admits to being the murderer.  Well, in Homicide on the Range it is clear from the get-go that no one liked the deceased person but come on !!!

In Homicide on the Range Tessa and her boyfriend Nick have decided to volunteer at a friend's dude ranch that specializes in veterans that are in some stage of recovery.  They go to the ranch and have therapy sessions, talk to others that can relate and help out on the ranch.  Well, if you know Tessa's friends and a few relatives, you know they always want in on the fun, so the whole gang goes to the dude ranch, some just to help out.

Little did any of them know that they were signing up for way more than they bargained for.  But they will do what they do best .... work together to get the job done.

Almost as soon as they arrive Tessa realizes one of the other guests is someone from her past, unfortunately Josie came out of the Army with a lot of battle scars, inside and out.  Tessa and the crew also learn that no one likes the cook, Aimee Orinoco, and they can see why. It seems like she knows how to push peoples' buttons.

Sadly, before they can really get settled and start enjoying their duties on the ranch, they find that the ranch may be in danger with wildfires happening nearby.  Tessa's best friend and Sheriff's Deputy back home, goes into town with Hannie one of the owners to get supplies but are unable to return due to the danger of the fire.

Then when Orinoco, who is the cook, doesn't show up to make breakfast and a search is performed, Ginny finds her dead in the walk-in freezer.  After discussing it with JJ, who owns the ranch with his wife Hannie, it is decided to keep Orinoco's death a secret and try to investigate without anyone figuring it out.

Tessa and crew have a lot to deal with due to the wildfires getting closer, Orinoco's death, and people are not quite themselves due to all the stress.  Then when everyone slowly realizes the danger they are in and that Orinoco was murdered, almost all of them admit to killing her.....

Readers will love the danger and excitement of Homicide on the Range.  You will be on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book.  How can there be so much drama in one story ?  Well, here it is !!  

I usually never try to figure out the guilty party in a story.  I tend to just read the book and stay in the mind of the main character and let them lead me through.  But man, was it crazy in Tessa's mind this time.  And when the actual murderer is revealed .... mind blown !!!