Paint the Town Dead is a pleasant cozy and a very quick read, but the mystery isn’t very engaging and with all that Jackson has going on in his personal life it’s a wonder he has the time, or interest, to help the sheriff’s department (especially since the key information is accessible on the Internet).  Jackson’s pre-teen daughter has suddenly become very angst ridden and while the housekeeper chalks it up to hormones, Jackson thinks it involves her friend whose parents’ murder he recently solved (events that are not explained well enough for those who have not read previous installments). 

Jackson is also having lady friend troubles; his current love, to whom he was planning on proposing, has left to care for her grandmother, though when Jackson calls her she is very cagy. Jackson also has a short fling with a local artist who moved to New York, but has returned to Texas to settle her mother’s affairs.

A very lightweight mystery and investigation with very little interest takes second place to the friends and family of Judge Jackson Crain.  

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry