The Last Chance Olive Ranch (China Bayles Mystery) Hardcover – April 4, 2017

I think authors of long-running series eventually get tired of their character. I wonder if this may be the case with Albert. I think she's a good author, but her last several China Bayle books have seemed a bit uneven to me. I think she may have taken a wrong turn when she decided to concentrate so much on China's domestic life. I don't find McQuaid to be leading man material, and I think her books would be more interesting if he were not so much in the forefront. I hope she can find a way to revitalize China's stories.This book felt a bit slow. The olive oil information was interesting, but the secondary characters weren't believable or sympathetic to me. The McQuaid storyline didn't really engage me. By midpoint, I was ready to shoot him, if only to make him shut up about his guilt trip. This is the first China book that I just didn't care about finishing.Still, the early books in the series are definitely good reading, and also the one about about the Galveston flood. That one was exceptionally good.

China and McQuaid are not happy when they are awakened by an early morning phone call particularly when it is to find out that a sex trade murderer that McQuaid had apprehended had broken out of prison and had vowed to kill everyone who had put him there and had started with the DA and his wife. China was supposed to go to the Last Chance Olive Ranch to do a workshop and have a retreat weekend with Ruby. She wanted to stay with McQuaid, but he insisted that she go.Perhaps, if McQuaid had known what kind of trouble awaited China at the ranch he might have had second thoughts. This book reminded me of The Gift of the Magi in some perverse way.Both of the stories were attention grabbing and well constructed. I liked the characters and felt that they were nuanced. I would recommend this book to people who like cozy mysteries or who like well drawn characters. Don't miss this one.

Albert's China Bayles series has always been a favorite of mine. Getting to know the characters through numerous books makes a good series a special home for the reader. When I received Last Chance Olive Ranch and saw that it included another lone woman fighting to retain her land, I wondered if Albert was beginning to repeat plots. No chance. This one, even for a long time reader like me, has an unexpected freshness. Albert's attention to detail gives realism to her hair-raising plots. Her ever deepening characters reveal new facets of their personalities while showing once again the qualities that we recognize and depend upon in them. This book is especially interesting in that it has a double plot -- China and her redoubtable husband McQuaid are on different perilous adventures at the same time.Her wry humor has thrilled me since the first sentence in the first book --"If I had known how the week was going to turn out, I would have sent it back first thing Monday and asked for a refund."If you want a well-plotted book that features numerous likable and sometimes quirky people in bizarre situations, one that involves you on page one and never stops galloping, this is the book for you.

I have read every book in this series plus other series the author has written. This may be my last. And it should be Susan Witting Alberts’s last in this series.As with many other long running series, the plot lines have started running thin. This one is completely preposterous on the McQuaid angle. -to the point where I skimmed ‘his’ chapters. By midway through the book, I was skimming it all in a ‘let’s get this over with’ mode.No tension, and none of the joy of the earlier books.Time to retire China and Company. The money is not worth your reputation as a solid writer.

The charm of Texas Hill Country and Albert ' s much loved characters visit a winery and olive farm, new ventures in the rugged rural area between Austin and San Antonio.Old ways die hard, though. Eliza, a woman raised on a ranch, returned from travels in Europe with an idea. She turned the family ranch to growing olives and was actually seeing some progress towards a profitable business when she passed away. Her protégé took over the property and the business. Eliza had left her everything in a will. We join her story up with China and Ruby's when our favorite herbalist and crystal shop owner arrive at the Last Chance Olive Ranch for a weekend workshop. Things don't exactly happen according to plan though.Characters are challenged to learn new behaviors in response to some horrible happenings that threaten China's family, as well as the nice folks at the ranch.There is a lot of information about favorite herbs and of course olive oil. We learn sone things about the pressing threat of climate change and water management. And there's delicious recipes.The chance to sink down into this magical hill country story makes every China Bayles book enjoyable. This one was better with new characters and new settings. Plus some reminders that older folks can learn from their kids, it's not always the old people being set in their ways and showing the kids how it's done.

Regular readers of the China Bayles series will recognize the major players. McQuaid is being threatened by an escaped murderer with revenge on his mind, so he send China to the safety of a nearby olive ranch. Little does he know she'll find intrigue and danger of her own. The novel alternates action between the two main characters, which escalates the tension for the reader. There are some hair-raising scenes in both plots, and the reader is caught by suspense in the hands of a master storyteller. As a bonus, you'll learn a lot about olive oil. Great book.

Nicht meine Favorit, 2 Geschichten in einer, da die jeweilige Geschichte kein ganzes Buch gefüllt hätte. Beide sind sehr vorhersehbar, wenn auch gut geschrieben, trotz zu vieler Wiederholungen. Kurzweilig, aber definitiv nicht hochstehend, das kann sie besser.

This was a gift. Did not read it.

It felt that something more is going to happen

Never disappointed with her books. Another winner.

Great as are all her books