Book Tour + Review: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY by Mike Martin @mike54martin @pumpupyourbook

 

Better Safe Than Sorry is a light, cozy-like mystery that deals with serious issues facing a small community but also finds ways to celebrate family, food and good friends...

Title: Better Safe Than Sorry

Author: Mike Martin

Publication Date: May 10, 2024

Pages: 251

Genre: Mystery

Winston Windflower is (sort of) enjoying his retirement from the RCMP in Grand Bank, Newfoundland, happily spending time with his young family, but feeling a little restless. Corporal Eddie Tizzard is running the Marystown detachment and struggling with the demands of the role while his own family grows. When a new kind of drug threatens the community, a body (the wrong body) is found dead in a hearse, and then another drug-connected mysterious death occurs, Tizzard knows he’s dealing with a deadly menace in their quiet, close-knit community.

Windflower finds himself inexorably (and not unhappily) drawn back into the action, first in an unofficial role to help snare the dealers and then back to active duty in a community that desperately needs his steady hand and good judgement. 

Our favorite Mountie, Sgt. Windflower and his fellow courageous cops in small-town Grand Bank, Newfoundland are back to fight a new threat in this compelling page-turner. Award-winning author, Mike Martin once again brings us a stirring story, blending down-home Newfoundland charm with the warmth of family life. 

You can pick up your copy at Amazon.

Book Excerpt:

Some say that April is the cruelest month, but Winston Windflower was pretty convinced that it was March. At least in Grand Bank, Newfoundland. They’d had a relatively mild winter up to this point but now they were getting slammed. Not once but twice. By winter storms that started the day before St. Patrick’s Day and were just ending now on March 19. The locals called the second storm “Sheila’s Brush” as a nickname given to a storm that seemed to occur right after Paddy’s Day. It came from an old Irish legend that claimed Sheila was the wife or sister or mother of St. Patrick and that this dumping of snow is a result of her sweeping away the old season of winter.

Supposedly, that was to prepare everyone for Spring, which the calendar said was about to begin in a week or so. But judging by the current weather and Windflower’s years of experience in Grand Bank, that new season was quite a way off. As he surveyed the banks of snow and checked the weather on his phone, there was more of the white stuff coming. He didn’t mind really. He actually liked the snow and living in this small town on the easternmost tip of Canada.

Until recently Windflower had been an RCMP Officer, a Mountie, but now was the Community Safety Officer for Grand Bank and a number of other surrounding communities. When the local RCMP detachment closed because of budgetary concerns, they needed someone to look after their local policing. The Mounties would look after the big stuff from nearby Marystown, about 40 minutes away, while they hoped Windflower would serve as a deterrent to local criminals who wanted to take advantage of the situation.

So far, so good on the crime front, thought Windflower who had actually spent most of his time doing outreach and crime prevention. In Marystown, however, things were not going so well. 

My Review:

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY is the fourth book in The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series by Mike Martin but it is only the third book in The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series that I have read. I have once again fallen in love with Sgt. Windflower & his family.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY drew me in from the first page and never let go as it had me racing to the end wanting to know it all as fast as I could get it. Sgt. Windflower kept me hanging on every word.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY kept spitting out surprising twists one after the other. It kept me guessing from one page to the other wondering how Tizzard’s and Windflower’s stories would play out.

Windflower has retired and moved to Grand Banks with his family. Windflower is getting bored with his little job in the town as there is little to keep him busy. He misses his old job in Marystown.

There is a new drug called Green Monster that is floating around and causing people to OD. A coffin with the wrong body in it shows up. Tizzard and Windflower work together to try and find out where the drugs are coming from and who is putting them out on the street.

I enjoy the relationship between Windflower, his wife, and his two little girls. I love seeing them in their home life. I loved seeing Windflower playing in the snow with his two little girls and their two pets, a cat and a dog. I could see it all playing out in my head as if I were part of it all.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY is filled with mystery and suspense. I can’t wait to read more about Windflower and his family in the next book in The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series.

Pick up a copy of BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY or any book by Mike Martin today! 

 

About the Author

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 14 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Better Safe Than Sorry. 

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

His latest book is the mystery, Better Late Than Never.

Author Links  

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