A review by bookhero6
Cold Hearted River by Keith McCafferty

3.0

Cold Hearted River by Keith McCafferty is a pretty decent private detective story. When a woman gets caught on a mountain and dies, she is found with an interesting piece of fishing tackle, a piece most likely owned by Ernest Hemingway at one time, from a steamer trunk that was stolen decades ago. Sean Stranahan, our detective/artist/fly fisherman, sets out to locate the lost trunk and tackle and comes across a few dead bodies in the process.

Hemingway's lost trunk is an interesting jumping off point and fits in nicely with the Montana setting. I learned a little bit about fly fishing and a little bit about Hemingway. I liked all of what seemed to be the main characters and think I could read the rest of the series because of them.

All around it was a good read and I think it would be a great camping read. There was one little surprise at the end that I did not like and felt was unnecessary. I am referring to what happened to Margarethe (a lead/suspect in the missing trunk/murder investigation) as a young woman. It did not need to happen for the story to make sense.

I received a digital galley of this book from Penguin's First to Read program.