One thing I love about reading cozy mysteries is learning about a new hobby or profession. In the case of Deadly Descent, the first in a brand new mystery series by Charlotte Hinger, I'm learning all about county historical research in the state of Kansas. The author herself is a Kansas historian and knows her business. She not only brings to life the inner workings of a small town historical office but the quirks of the locals the main character, Lottie Albright, has to deal with.

A newcomer to the sleepy little county of Carlton, Kansas, in the western part of the state, Lottie deals with locals feeling she's uppity, not because she's married to a wealthy widower, but because she was raised in the eastern Kansas, which they feel is more cosmopolitan and probably should be annexed by neighboring Missouri. I truly understand that rationale because it exists in the state I live in, which has two completely different agendas, political and social, in its West versus East entanglements.

Lottie also has to deal with fitting into her new family where some of her grown stepchildren think she lacks grit. Well, Lottie soon corrects their concept of her when she volunteers to become a much-needed sheriff's deputy. This second job has her family not only rolling their eyes but also fearing for her safety when murder begins to raise its head in the county. Lottie's research skills win over the reluctant sheriff, especially when she begins to find a lot of information about an outstanding cold case.

However, as any researcher knows, research can become consuming. Lottie obsesses with details in the cold case she's reopened and in finding connections between two fresh corpses that appear. As her historical research has shown about the past, people color their histories in the most favorable hues, and unearthing the truth is often very complex. Lottie, however, never thought it would become so personal or so dangerous!

I just couldn't put this book down. Charlotte Hinger worries niggling questions until she has answers and doesn't like loose ends. Therefore, her mysteries are complex and don't have pat answers. They are as intricate and human as the lives she researches in her own work as an historian. Deadly Descent is a spectacular beginning to what I hope will be a long series about Lottie Albright. More please...