1.5 big meh

This was pretty bad.
Strange language (rubbers?!!?), stranger
motivations. Blechh.

Now, this book, I really liked. I loved the characters, I loved seeing Maxwell slowly changing. Just a bit, of course, otherwise, it wouldn't be him :P

I loved Royce, too. He's so patient and so down-to-Earth. And Grumpy! There is no way that there is any person who wouldn't love him :P

The mystery wasn't so good, I knew pretty soon what was going on, although I must say I was surprised about the culprits. And the continuous happenings at Maxwell's house kept the story interesting and helped to move the romance along.

I'll be impatiently waiting for the next story =D

3.5*
Despite being a murder mystery, it is written in a light and free style, so easy to read and go along.
Maxwell is a fish out of water - both from his city lifestyle and as we learn later, a fairly unemotional upbringing.
Locating to small town Texas was never going to end well - but bodies in the swimming pool was not on the cards.
Enjoyed the slow ish build with Royce and Maxwell. The mystery element felt a bit weak at times however I enjoyed so will be looking at getting the rest soon

4.25 Stars

3.5 stars

Es la primera vez que leo a esta autora y honestamente me gustó, es muy cozy mystery y eso a mi me encanta, es un género que disfruto mucho leer.

En esta primera entrega nos presentan al dr. Maxwell Thornton, un cirujano muy importante que por un desafortunado incidente en el quirófano se ve determinado a retirarse al pequeño pueblo de Rainy Dale, Tx, donde espera encontrar la tranquilidad que tanta falta le hace a su vida y volver a encontrar su camino; es un personaje interesante bastante antipático y arisco, a pesar de que un doctor suele tratar con las personas Maxwell pereciere no hacerlo y encuentra a sus pacientes en Rainy Dale bastante molestos y para él es difícil encajar en la idílica vida que está pequeña localidad parece ofrecer. Por otro lado, tenemos al sheriff Royce Callum que es lo opuesto a Maxwell, es alguien cálido aunque un poco solitario, ambos hombres se atraen de inmediato y lo que tiene que pasar, pasa. Pero no todo es color de rosa porque pronto el dr. Maxwell se ve encuentro en una investigación de homicidio.

En aspectos generales la historia fue bonita, en algunas partes me llegó resultar algo lenta, especialmente usando se revela el misterio, pero en definí la relación entre Roy y Maxwell es uno de los puntos más interesantes de la trama.

Dr. Maxwell Thornton is a salty sort of fellow with a horrible bedside manner. He’s running away from his old life, hiding in plain sight in Rainy Dale, Texas, after losing a patient during what should have been a routine operation, and though he's been exonerated of any wrong-doing, rightfully so, he’s having trouble reconciling with the outcome nonetheless. So, he has left Los Angeles and a once prestigious career behind to take on the role of General Practitioner in this sleepy little town where everyone knows everyone else's business, and where he himself is now the current topic of all the gossip that's fit to whisper. Maxwell doesn't appreciate the way these strangers want to poke at the skeleton in his closet—which is a nice dichotomy considering he hails from a city that was built and thrives on gossip—but more than anything else, he just wants to be left alone.

Sheriff Royce Callum is the one man who makes Rainy Dale a whole lot more interesting for Maxwell, though he couldn't be more the doctor's opposite if he tried. Royce is the salt-of-the-earth country mouse to Maxwell’s city-slicker mouse, friendly and as apt to use teaching moments as to take punitive measures when it comes to minor infractions. He’s the lawman with a good heart, and his natural kindness goes a long way in the townspeople's estimation of him. That kindness only goes so far, however, when a dead body shows up in Maxwell’s swimming pool, and all initial signs point to his guilt. I adored Royce from the moment he showed up on page, not only for his obvious intelligence but for his instincts and intuition as well, and I appreciated that Wynne didn’t use him as a simple caricature to contrast the differences between him and Maxwell.

One of the many things I like about S.C. Wynne's mysteries is the skillful balance she achieves between the relationship and the criminal elements of a story. They pay great complement to one another, especially here when Royce must distance himself from the fragile connection he's made with Maxwell to maintain a semblance of professional objectivity when it appears, for all intents and purposes, that the town's newest resident might be a killer. Royce is measured and tenacious, and his getting to the bottom of the whodunit also allowed him to be plausibly imperfect in his inability to predict the killer’s motives and actions. While the criminal investigation imparts its share of friction between him and Maxwell, it's also cleared up quickly enough to waylay unnecessary angst. I love the way he and Maxwell worked together, but I didn’t find myself swooning over them as much as thinking, yeah, they fit.

I also liked that Royce’s sexuality isn’t used as a story trope to paint Rainy Dale as a homophobic backwater. Apart from the murdery bits, it’s sort of an idyllic little place where, amongst its quirky inhabitants, some folks are behaving extra squirrely, and I liked the way the hints and clues were meted out in a way that allowed me to feel involved in the mystery rather than being a mere passive observer of it. Though Strange Medicine doesn't fit the strict definition of a cozy mystery, there's still a quaintness to the setting and a limited enough focus on its point-of-view characters that it all added a bit of coziness to the telling.

With a promising start to another murder mystery already established for Royce and Maxwell at the end of Strange Medicine, I can't wait for book two in the series to drop. It's always great to find a new fave.

Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach

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