Mary Magruder Katz was a successful Miami, Florida defense lawyer. When she caught her boyfriend Carlos kissing his ex-wife at a local restaurant, she was devastated. Her friend Lucy was with her, and later talked her into going to Lucy’s Vermont vacation home to get away for a while. Mary agreed and headed north with her German Shepard, Sam, in an attempt to recover from the painful memory.

Mary arrived in High Pines, Vermont, and met several of the locals. It didn’t take long before she heard about the murder of Carolyn Brousseau, a local widow and socialite. Mary’s interest was piqued when she heard the murder was still unsolved a year later.

Not long after Mary arrived in High Pines, Vermont, a couple of situations drew her attention as a lawyer. Mary had represented Lillian Yarmouth in the death of her husband. Lillian lived in Florida, but her daughter was attending school in Vermont, and was kidnapped shortly after Mary visited her on campus. Also, a local lawyer by the name of Dash Mellman asked her to look into a tree and boundary issue between two local men, an assignment that turned dangerous.

With Dash at her side as she sought to find the missing college student, and the boundary issue heating up, as well as her growing interest in solving the murder of Mrs. Brousseau, Mary almost forgot the painful reason she was in Vermont in the first place.

Outrageous October is the third book in the Mary Magruder Katz series written by Barbara Levenson, a former Miami criminal defense lawyer and later a judge. It is obvious Levenson put her vast experience in the criminal justice system to good use in this series.

Placing her heroine in a new environment freshened an already intriguing series. Although the heroine was drawn into several cases rather quickly, the author deftly kept them from confusing the reader. The plot flows like one of the rushing Vermont rivers keeping the pages turning. Several surprises along the way will keep readers on their toes and longing to help Mary find the answers to a number of questions.

Levenson has a keen sense of place. Her descriptive narrative draws one into the Green Mountains of Vermont. The landscape in this beautiful setting was put to good use adding to the intrigue. How Katz manages to handle numerous cases and relationships at the same time without losing her cool is one of the reasons why Outrageous October is highly recommended.

A special thank you goes to the author for providing a complimentary copy for our review. If you are interested in obtaining any of her mysteries, they are available at Amazon.com.