A review by mattnixon
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

4.0

If you're looking for a fresh, exceptional literary mystery, hop in for a ride with debut author Samantha Jayne Allen and take a spin on Pay Dirt Road. Annie McIntyre is a recent college grad who's returned to her rural hometown of Garnett, Texas unsure of what she wants to do with her life and where she wants to go next. Garnett both embraces and suffocates her. A coworker at the local diner is murdered and Annie is drawn into investigating. Allen plots the mystery briskly and in surprising ways. With effortless prose full of sensual imagery, the author efficiently and evocatively brings Garnett and its inhabitants to life. What really elevates Pay Dirt Road into an exceptional piece of genre fiction is the main character and her story. In Annie, Allen has created a full, complex character whose personal experiences--as a young woman, as good but never the best in her endeavors--are the very strengths that help her in Pay Dirt Road. Her instincts and intuition are well-earned. Her empathy fuels her inquiry. For the reader, Annie's setbacks and stumbles hurt and his victories are earned and satisfying. Samantha Jayne Allen has written a terrific mystery and elevated the human dimensions and type of heroes available in the genre. Highly recommend.