Title/Author: Ivy Get Your Gun (An Ivy Meadows Mystery) by Cindy Brown
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Henery Press
Date of publish: May 2017
Pages: 234

There’s a new sheriff in town—and she can sing! When Gold Bug Gulch’s actor-gunslinger Mongo winds up shot for real, actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows goes undercover as the ingénue in the tourist town’s melodrama. Unfortunately, she’s distracted by a pack of marauding Chihuahuas, a problematic love life, auditions for Annie Get Your Gun, and a personal mission: to show people the real Annie Oakley.
What’s more, the no-good, yellow-bellied varmint who killed Mongo isn’t finished with the Gulch—or with Ivy. Will our heroine prove she can get a man with a gun—before the killer gets her?
Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), amateur sleuth books, book club recommendations, humorous murder mysteries, private investigator mystery series.
Books in the Ivy Meadows Humorous Mystery Series:
MACDEATH (#1)
THE SOUND OF MURDER (#2)
OLIVER TWISTED (#3)
IVY GET YOUR GUN (#4)

This is one of my favorite series. Ivy is such a fun character to spend time with! I always find it difficult to put down one of Cindy Brown’s books.
~The Girl with Book Lungs

Not only is author Cindy Brown balancing the laughs with murder and the very real danger Ivy is facing, but she is also walking a fine line with comedic characters who are funny yet come across as real. She pulls it off perfectly.
~Carstairs Considers…

Chapter one of this tale had me both laughing out loud and gasping in shock!
~Lisa Ks Book Reviews

You will smile as Ivy does her best, and hold your breathe as you see her put herself in harm’s way.
There is never a lull or slow section. This whodunit will keep you guessing.
~Laura’s Interests

Someone finally went and dunnit! Combined my life long loves of musical theater and mystery fiction, that is. This was my first adventure with aspiring actress and fledgling PI Ivy Meadows. It seems an unlikely combination of career choices, but surprisingly it works. Ivy isn’t one of those with-it, millennial career type women, she is just an everyday Jill with a load of to do’s on her plate and strong sense of family obligation.

In this book, she is auditioning for the a big time role, that she suddenly finds maybe not so fulfilling after learning a bit of history about the character. Meanwhile both her acting and PI skills are being put to the test by a pug on the lam (who could be partying with in crowd or lunch for the local predators) and the mystery of what should be an impossible accidental shooting death at a seemingly ill fated ghost town amusement park that could be closing its saloon doors before they ever swing open. Along the way to solving her mysteries she runs into rumors of ancient family feuds, mob connections and eco-terrorism none and all of which seem like likely scenarios as she roams the Arizona desert battling reptiles, quicksand and a quirky mule, all with a gun on her hip and song on her lips. Luckily, she has a strong supporting cast of family and close friends to fall back on.

This was enjoyable read. I had no trouble reading it as a stand alone and it made me want to dive in and read the rest of the series.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review

Cindy Brown has been a theater geek (musician, actor, director, producer, and playwright) since her first professional gig at age 14. Now a full-time writer, she’s lucky enough to have garnered several awards (including 3rd place in the 2013 international Words With Jam First Page Competition, judged by Sue Grafton!) and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Writers Workshop. Though Cindy and her husband now live in Portland, Oregon, she made her home in Phoenix, Arizona, for more than 25 years and knows all the good places to hide dead bodies in both cities.