Girl With a Gun by Kari Bovee – Review

Girl With a Gun gives readers everything they could ever want in a cozy mystery. Kari Bovee breathes new life into the legendary Annie Oakley. History comes to life in this lovely audiobook.

About Girl With a Gun

She’s on the rise to fame and fortune, but her sudden notoriety comes with some deadly consequences.

Annie Oakley thrives as a sharpshooter in the Wild West Show. Finally, she has a chance to save her family’s farm—and make her dreams come true.

But her act misfires when she discovers her Indian assistant dead in her tent. Uncovering a shocking secret from her assistant’s past, the girl with the gun believes it’s murder. Determined to find the truth, she ruffles some horse feathers, making enemies along the trail.

​But, when her prized gelding is stolen, Annie realizes she might have been the target all along.

Can Little Miss Sure Shot save her equine friend and find the killer before everything she’s worked for is destroyed?

​If you like a cunning mystery, a feisty heroine, and a fast-paced plot that keeps the pages turning, you’ll love this wild ride with the iconic Annie Oakley in the saddle.

Blurb Provided by iRead Book Tours for Tour Use

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My Review

Little Annie Mosey comes to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in a whirlwind. Annie finds the show’s opulence overwhelming, but then her first friend winds up dead. Death and destruction seem to follow Annie like flies to the manure pile. Will she make it through her first tour without harm?

Characters

Annie Oakley’s life feels like a whirlwind of chaos when you think back on her career. When I’ve had the opportunity to study Annie Oakley, she seems like a queen. Kari Bovee writes Annie like a real person and not this grand dame of the arena. 

I did get annoyed when Annie jumped to conclusions about Frank. She never gave him the benefit of the doubt or any way to explain. This behavior might make more sense if I knew she had a foul temper. I’d never heard that about her, so it doesn’t seem to fit her personality.

Frank Butler, Buffalo Bill, and Sitting Bull are just as famous as Annie, but they also feel like human beings. Larger-than-life heroes made normal is always fun to read. I love how this author was able to bring them all to life in a way that makes them almost ordinary.

Setting

The St. Louis setting of the arena, the tent city where the performers live, and the city proper all made me feel at home. I would never consider living in a tent in the middle of nowhere as luxurious. The grandeur that Bovee relates makes you wish you were there with them. I especially love the descriptions of the horse barn. I loved that good old Buck hated the barn. Learning about this world made me giddy to go back in time.

Narrator

I adore the narrator, Susanna Burney. Her voice made listening to this story a great joy. I don’t know about her Irish brogue for Frank, but it is a bit endearing. Susanna used a different voice that distinguished each character from the other. Though not so much that you get pulled from the story. It was a pleasure listening to this tale.

Further Thoughts

I did find that the book went on a bit long. The narrative would work if a bit shorter. The scenes repeat a lot that makes it somewhat tedious. There were also very few clues to let the reader know who the culprit was. I didn’t even have a hunch about the culprit until the very end. That’s usually a good thing in a mystery, but it was a bit of a leap. There weren’t enough clues to point the finger in that direction.

Wrapping Up

I loved this novel. I’m excited to listen to more of the series. I award Girl With a Gun 4 out of 5 stars. History-loving readers will enjoy this book. If history means nothing to you, the cozy mystery format also works well.

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About the Author – Kari Bovee

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white-sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Bovee writes the award-winning Annie Oakley Mystery Series and the Grace Michelle Mystery Series and has more ideas than time for many, many more.

Author’s Contact Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads

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Girl With a Gun Author Giveaway!

Enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card courtesy of the author of the Annie Oakley Mysteries! (one winner) (ends Feb 11)

GIRL WITH A GUN (Annie Oakley Mystery) Audiobook Tour Giveaway