Gator Queen (Critters and Criminals #1)
Finished: February 2024
Book Source: NetGalley
Book Publication Date: March 2024
“You’re the girl who traps gators?”
Even in the quirky town of Wahoo, Florida, twenty-five-year-old Maggie Andrews is an anomaly—a petite but determined female gator trapper who isn’t afraid to get dirty. But to fulfill her father’s dying wish, Maggie left her job at the Boston Zoo to take over the family business and reunite with her twin sister Vera.
Enter Jack Bianchi—a criminology professor from Miami who is renting a room from the twins. Jack’s smart, good with Maggie’s kitten, and hot as hell. But while Maggie’s debating whether she has time for a steamy fling, Vera’s getting into hot water. When a rival gator trapper turns up dead in a swamp full of bullets from Vera’s stolen gun, she’s the prime suspect.
Maggie and Jack naturally pair up to investigate… And, to keep from arousing the suspicions of Vera’s sketchy boyfriend, pretend to pair up romantically. It turns out that fake dating and finding a killer are more dangerous than trapping an angry twelve-footer, but Maggie isn’t about to let her family’s legacy, Vera’s fledgling romance bookstore, or her situationship with Jack go down without a fight.
Trigger Warnings:
Murder
Characters
- Maggie – Just moved back to Florida after her dad died to take up the family business of gator catching
- Vera – Maggie’s twin sister, opening a romance book store
- Tyler Carr – city council member, went to high school with the girls
- Uncle Bert – owns a gator sanctuary, where the family drops off the gators they catch
- Gene – Rival gator trapper
- Jack – criminology professor renting a room from Vera
My Review
This was a delightful romp through the swampy world of gator trapping in small-town Florida. Maggie, our pint-sized protagonist and her adventures kept me hooked from start to finish.
The dynamic between Maggie and her sister adds an extra layer of depth to the story, although I found myself yelling at the pages as Maggie’s sister struggles with her self-confidence. Despite their challenges, the sisters’ determination to make ends meet in their unconventional careers is both admirable and entertaining.
And let’s not forget the romance! The sparks between Maggie and Jack add a fun and flirty element to the narrative, keeping me eagerly turning pages to see where their relationship would lead.
The ending had me chuckling out loud as the bad guy gets their comeuppance in a hilariously unexpected way. Overall, Gator Queen is a cozy mystery that’s as charming and perfect for anyone looking for a light-hearted escape into the wild world of gator trapping.
Thank you Netgalley and 8th Note Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Spoilers/Summary
Everything below this point contains spoilers!
Maggie finds Gene’s body when she is anonymously called out to check out a gator. He was shot in the back of the head which ends up being her sister, Vera’s, gun that was conveniently stolen from her car hours prior.
Maggie goes to visit Gene’s wife, who is happy he’s dead. She says he was abusive and now she can buy the bakery she is working at to make cupcakes. While Maggie is there she overhears “Chad” saying that Gene’s wife doesn’t suspect anything and is too caught up in buying the bakery. She also discovers a photo of Gene with Tyler Carr, Vera’s boyfriend that seems to be hiding their relationship, and one other person that she can’t identify at the time.
The murderer ends up being the person that Maggie interacted with right at the beginning of the book. He had called her in to trap a baby gator. He was a developer that wanted to develop the land. He worked with Tyler and Gene to get approvals. Gene helped Tyler rig the city election by supplying him with a friend that had the same name as the incumbent. This drove confusion on the ballots so Tyler won. Tyler then was taking kickbacks for the developing of the property. Gene is killed because he started blabbing about the election rigging and kickbacks.