Molly: House on Fire by R. E. Bradshaw

Publisher:       R.E.B. Books

Molly: House on Fire is the story of Molly Kincaid.  Years before she left a town that never treated her or her mother very well and now she’s come home, reluctantly.  Molly has a new name and is a successful lawyer, but she can’t overcome the hurt of the past.  When her mother was murdered, only one police officer cared enough to pay any attention and now he has died. Molly has returned to repay a debt by defending his grandson against a charge of murdering his own mother and walks into a mystery that ties the two events together.  Molly also meets her match in Leslie Walker, the specialist who works with her client.  Together they discover that the town has changed in many ways, but not some of the most important ones.

This was an enjoyable story, slightly predictable, but with characters that hold the reader’s attention.  It will keep you reading; however, there are some problems.  There are a lot of mistakes in the beginning of the book.  That includes misspellings, words missing and words used incorrectly.  For example, at one point a character walks down the “isle” of a store.  Silly errors like that should have been picked up by the editor.  In fact, an editor should have done a lot of work on this book.  There were many extraneous scenes that drag the story out and do nothing to move the plot forward.  They could have been easily eliminated.  The paperback copy was sloppily produced with uneven margins and too much white space.  All they do is make the book longer.

If the reader ignores the physical problems with the book, there is an enjoyable story there.  With a little more care to its production, it could have been outstanding.