Rating: 4.5⭐️
Body Beneath the Wither brings several things to a head in Claire and Sam’s relationship that’s needed to be resolved, the fact that she’s been hiding so much of herself and what actually happens around the ranch from him.
That definitely becomes a factor when a podcaster comes to town chasing ghosts and ends up being his own story, among other mysteries on an ominous ranch hiding many secrets.
I liked that this eventually moved Claire and Sam’s story forward. Plus the darkness of the Wither is one that seems to be one that’s not fully resolved for a reason.
The author always has multiple storylines going on and each one is different and weaves fully into the narrative and series arc.
The animals are great characters and the desert is so beautifully written that it’s feels as though you can step into the town and find each place without hesitation.
Another winner.
Cover by Book Covers by Melody
The Haunted Ranch Mysteries (8 book series)
Death Rides The Desert #1
Bones and Cactus Blooms #2
Spirits of the Saguaro #3
Tombstones with a View #4
Body Beneath the Wither #5
Death Waits at Dead Rock #6
Skulls and Sunlit Secrets #7
The Bone Charm #8
Buy link
Body Beneath the Wither (The Haunted Ranch Mysteries Book 5)
Blurb
A dead tree. A dead podcaster. A desert that remembers everything.
Claire Caldwell was ready for wedding planning, not another corpse.
But when her fiancé’s vet call takes them down a lonely road outside Perdido Springs, Rusty blocks their path and leads them straight to Broken Acres, a long abandoned farmhouse with a twisted tree locals call the Wither.
Beneath its dead branches lies Craig Dooley, better known to his listeners as Stone Coldwell, the loudmouthed host of The Cold Files. He came chasing ghosts, chasing fame, chasing the thrill he’d lost… and now he is the newest spirit the desert refuses to forget.
His unhinged ex turns up screaming and clawing at the body, a will is found in the dirt, and two siblings are suddenly at each other’s throats over a secret fortune that should have died with their father.
Then the whispers start.
A grieving woman in old fashioned clothes begs Claire to help the man she has waited a hundred years to see, and the Wither’s shadow seems to sink into everyone nearby, feeding paranoia, greed, and old resentments until even the living feel haunted.
Claire has solved murders before, but this one is different… because Sam is watching, and he is finally noticing the things Claire has been hiding.
To catch a killer, Claire will have to face what waits under the Wither.
And she might have to tell her fiancé the truth… before the desert takes someone else.
February 10, 2026
Language
English
Print length
273 pages
Book 5 of 8
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 