The plan was simple. Come home to Indian Falls, Illinois just long enough to deal with selling her mother's old roller skating rink and then go back to Chicago and her job as a mortgage broker. But when Rebecca Robbins discovers the dead body of the town's handyman in the rink's bathroom, she realizes selling the place won't be quite as simple as she hoped for. To make matters worse, the local law enforcement is investigating the crime at a glacial pace. Knowing the rink won't be sold until the murderer is caught, Rebecca decides try her hand at some amateur sleuthing in the hopes that she can solve the mystery and get out of her small hometown as quickly as possible. Along the way, she's both helped and hindered by some of the town's quirky inhabitants, including a gorgeous vegetarian, a camel with a penchant for wearing hats, and her widowed grandfather who's juggling multiple girlfriends.I was surprised to discover that Skating Around the Law was Charbonneau's debut novel. It's such a perfect blend of compelling mystery, humor, and romance that I was anticipating Charbonneau having written another series of mysteries prior to this one. The highlight of the novel was certainly the main character, Rebecca. I appreciated that unlike most women in amateur detective stories, she wasn't a complete idiot in her investigating. Despite being a rather reluctant detective, she still managed to be an intelligent and aware one, breaking some laws, not blatantly disregarding them. Rebecca didn't spend nearly every chapter stupidly stumbling into horrible situations of her own making that someone had to rescue her from, which helped keep the novel fun and not as frustrating as so many other female detective stories. It was also great to have such a zany collection of supporting characters, each with their own distinct voice. Even the hat-wearing camel, Elwood, was a well-written character with a huge personality. The mystery itself was relatively straightforward without being too obvious or predictable. I'm certainly looking forward to reading more in the series and getting to know the cast of characters better. I had looked at this series for a couple of years and finally came upon a copy for a good price (don't know why these aren't available as paperbacks!). Glad I gave it a shot as this was definitely a good start to a series that is partly based in a roller skating rink in a small Illinois town, and I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. Rebecca is likeable and I love her granddad and Elwood, the hat-wearing former circus camel! Good small town characters and a good story. It took me a little bit before I decided who the bad guy was. Will definitely the other 2 that are available in this series! RECOMMEND!
