Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Amateur sleuth

WHERE The SLEEPING LADY LIES by M.E. Schuman – Environmental Thriller, Mystery, Amateur Sleuth

An Environmental Thriller inspired by the 9.2 Good Friday earthquake of 1964 in South Central Alaska, M.E. Schuman’s Where the Sleeping Lady Lies is a story of political espionage and environmental danger.

The legend of the Sleeping Lady is a tale of a giant woman who falls asleep waiting for her lover to return from battle. When tragic news arrives that her lover was killed, the other women cannot bear to wake her, and to this day the Sleeping Lady still lies as part of the landscape.

In the present day, Sam is on her way back to Alaska, a few weeks after a catastrophic earthquake has hit.

She received a call from her friend Jackson, whose twin Jacob, is missing and presumed dead. Though Jackson is careful about what details he shares over the phone, there’s something not adding up about the earthquake and a mining operation his friend Camden was involved in.

Sam soon learns that her best friend Shelby has also been missing since the earthquake. Urged to come home, Sam investigates a company called ARKose, who was conducting a highly secretive mining project in the area. As she and her comrades uncover more information about the company’s shady motivations, it becomes a race against time to stop future catastrophes that would cost countless lives.

The chapters shift from focusing on different points-of-view, so readers get a wider scope of the actions and motivations of the characters.

Author M.E. Schuman has traveled the world and has a master’s in environmental science and policy, which gives Where the Sleeping Lady Lies a strong understanding of the issues it tackles.

There is quite a bit of science jargon in the dialogue, but Schuman does a good job at working explanations into the story. Sometimes this exposition can be a bit heavy, but this can be necessary in most cases when writing about complex scientific concepts.

Where the Sleeping Lady Lies brings an interesting and refreshing scenario to the Eco-thriller genre, with plausible modern-day science rather than near-future or outlandish environmental circumstances.

M.E. Schuman’s Where the Sleeping Lady Lies is a subtle yet exciting environmental thriller that skillfully explains scientific concepts and findings in a way that makes it accessible to readers without losing the details that are important to the plot. This makes Where the Sleeping Lady Lies an especially satisfying read for people interested in science.

March 24, 2025
THE THIRD ESTATE: Secrets of the Manor by D.R. Berlin – Murder Mystery, Conspiracy Thriller, Amateur Sleuth

In The Third Estate: Secrets of the Manor by D.R. Berlin, we are introduced to Kai Lovac, an assassin working for The Third Estate—a group of powerful individuals who wield their influence to enrich one another.

Lovac sets out to kill Professor Milo Anderson, a former member of the prestigious Stockton Military Institute of Combat Aviation in Colorado. The Professor is working on top secret data wanted by both the government and The Third Estate.

The military has obtained images of Anderson meeting with individuals from The Third Estate, incriminating him as working with a dangerous group known to eliminate any living person who hinders their goals. The military labels him a traitor and will stop at nothing to find out why the Professor has decided to work for such a heinous organization.

Meanwhile, Cadet Sophie Allard prepares for her last flight at the Stockton Military Institute—which she must fly perfectly to earn her graduation. But an uncovered secret weighs on her mind.

She recently discovered that her adoptive father, Professor Milo Anderson, used to attend the Institute as well some years ago. She can’t understand why he would keep that secret from her—nor can she let go of the question.

As she’s going through her practice runs for graduation, she is notified that her father was involved in a lab accident and has passed away. Her superiors allow her time to go to her former home, Grand Lake Manor, to attend her father’s memorial service.

When Sophie arrives at the family manor, she notices that something is not quite right at her home.

She sets her mind to a secret investigation, hoping that she can get to the bottom of what actually happened in the lab explosion that caused her father’s death. Sophie doesn’t yet realize that she’s placing her own life in peril.

Right from the start, readers are pulled into this intricately tangled web of lies, espionage, and assassination attempts.

As the story begins to unfold, readers will wriggle in their seats as they grasp the many details of the mystery, trying to put together these valuable puzzle pieces. The mystery keeps revealing itself until the very last page of this thriller.

Readers will think they know a character very well, only to have the rug pulled out from under them further into the story. The many twists and turns make each turn of the page an anxiety-inducing event as readers find out what will happen to each character—and just what side they are truly working for.

January 6, 2025
THINGS UNSEEN: The Isaak Collection by David T. Isaak – Murder Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Mysticism

After the murder of his sister, Dr. Walker Claybourne journeys to the Yucca Valley to wrap up Claire’s affairs– including the investigation, in David T. Isaak’s mystery novel, Things Unseen.

As a geology professor at the University of California in San Diego, a leading authority on volcanic landforms of the Southwest, Walker lives a life as solid and routine as the very rocks he studies. He has his tenure, his condo, and his quiet existence. On sabbatical to write a textbook, Walker plans on staying in Claire’s rented house just long enough to pack her things. However, he isn’t there long before guilt sets in as he realizes how little he knew his only sister.

With his parents both dead and his only other sibling teaching at Cambridge, Walker realizes how very alone he is, and he decides to investigate Claire’s murder.

His initial stop with the detective covering the case leaves him more confused than enlightened, so Walker turns to Claire’s friends, a strange group of both mystics and intellectuals. He quickly begins to see the complex woman his little sister was– counselor, reformer, and spiritual pilgrim. As the mystery deepens, the questions yield a plethora of suspects, while Walker faces multiple attacks on himself. He gradually begins to questions his own beliefs and long-standing intellectualism the more he learns about Claire.

This novel offers a fresh and complex take on the journey of self-realization.

In the beginning, Walker is a well-established skeptic and intellectual. His entire existence is built upon scientific observation and proof, the kind one can see and touch. He absolutely refuses to believe in the psychic visions of Claire’s friend Mandy or the Wiccan glamour spell entrancing him to another friend, Melanie.

Where Claire is passionate, seeing the power in the beautiful and often deadly landscape surrounding her, Walker is coldly calculating, analyzing those measurable traits easily explained by his many years of study and research. He admits that his life has been about endurance, a “doggedness” that has gotten him both his tenure and his lack of true friends.

However, Walker knows this stubbornness is exactly what he needs to keep him on the scent of Claire’s killer.

The more Detective Bolles pushes against his investigation, the more resolve Walker has to understand Claire and make up for all the years he’d wasted. He often wonders if his newfound obsession with knowing Claire’s mind and inner circle is healthy, or just a way of assuaging his guilt with the thrill of achievement in finding her killer.

However, this very uncertainty is, in itself, personal growth for Walker. As a goal-oriented man, he is always clear in his expectations and desires, but by investigating his fierce, loyal sister, he steps out of his “normal,” and likens the experience to his brain splitting and evolving.

Along the way, Claire’s friends and eventually Claire’s presence– whether in his mind or as a true spirit– convince him not to ignore the things for which he has no real explanation.

Walker begins to think that his years in academia have just been a way to hide rather than face life head-on as Claire always did, and he begins to truly notice the little details he sees every day. While Walker isn’t sure what the correct life path is, he no longer believes it’s simple. The path to truth, just like the mystery of Claire’s death, is a winding mixture of factual and spiritual, but one full of strong friendships and deep devotion.

March 6, 2024
MISSING VALUES by Michael Grigsby – Crime Thriller, Amateur Sleuth, Mystery

Missing Values by Michael Grigsby is a story about corruption that allows evil to flourish, set against the spreadsheets and data that give one man with little power but an extreme drive a chance to check that evil.

At least for long enough to save his son. And himself.

Mark Twain famously proclaimed that “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.” Centuries earlier, Sir Francis Bacon said that “knowledge itself is power”. Ace statistical analyst Patrick Gray works at the intersection of those two famous quotes, using his ability to tease knowledge – or at least actionable information – out of myriad statistical data gathered on every human on the planet – or at least every human who has ever bought anything.

When a bloody massacre is discovered at the job site where his teenage son, PJ, was working, with two eviscerated corpses left in pieces on the floor, the police assume that PJ was a third victim. There’s so much in the way of blood, body parts, and other forensic evidence that no one is 100% sure of anything. Because PJ and the two confirmed victims were young black men, and those two victims were involved in gangs, the police rely on assumptions without caring to truly investigate anything at all.

Patrick knows his son wouldn’t get caught up in gangs or drugs. Most of the police dismiss this as parental wishful thinking, except for one local cop and one FBI agent who have both seen this pattern before – and are certain it leads to a criminal enterprise that no one wants to touch.

Especially when that enterprise, a national cartel known as the Red Rings, has so many cops and agents under its thumb or eating at its bountiful table.

Patrick Grey and FBI Agent LaWanda Thompson look into the abyss of the Red Rings – and the abyss looks back to grab them both. They end up right where they need to be to expose the evil that destroyed LaWanda’s family and plans to destroy Patrick’s as well unless they bring it down – or become part of it.

Missing Values is a suspenseful thrill ride of a story told from two wildly divergent perspectives that meet in an explosive ending.

Patrick Grey and LaWanda Thompson are the heroes, whose involvement seems righteous – even as they swerve and stumble along their broken path.

Their investigation is a combination of the traditional police procedural with a riveting ‘lone wolf’ hunt for justice and a surprisingly fascinating peek into the world of math and statistical analysis. Patrick uses his expertise in a way that allows the reader to comprehend it, keeping them focused on a subject that takes on the uncharacteristic excitement of a thriller.

In opposition to Patrick and LaWanda, the reader dives into the dirt, mire, and pure evil of the Red Rings through the perspective of their chief agent, kidnapper, and ‘recruiter’ for special orders. It’s a journey through dangerous and depraved places, populated with even more depraved people, and is not for either the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.

In the end, Missing Values is a story of good versus evil, one where good has to get down in the muck to save as many as possible from an evil that almost drags them too deep to escape.

Readers who enjoy bloody suspense and mysteries that make one question all the characters and their motivations will be riveted by every twist and turn in this pulse-pounding thriller.

January 19, 2024
FLOWERS Of EVIL: Hani’s Daughter Mysteries Book 1 by N.L. Holmes – Historical Mysteries, Ancient Egypt, Murder Mysteries

In Flowers of Evil by N.L. Holmes, a new generation steps up to face the dangers and intrigue of murder in Ancient Egypt.

The people of Egypt are bustling despite the heat, businesses are thriving, devotion is a way of life, and families are at the pulsing heart of society. Not all is happiness, however. The city hides deceit, malice, and ambition in the shadows. Here, a lethal hand wields a sharp knife. Desperate to save her bleeding patient, Lord Hani’s daughter applies all her medical knowledge. But evil wins and Neferet watches her innocent patient ‘pass to the West’.

She cannot let such a ruthless murder rest until she finds out who did it.

Neferet has seen her father face the dangers of investigation in the past, but she’s determined to follow through for the chief florist of the Hidden One’s temple and to solve the mystery that turned his flowers of beauty into Flowers of Evil. Is she prepared to face the perils ahead?

Lord Hani’s family is a vibrant clan, and his daughter has never shied away from a challenge. Despite the biases and societal rules of ancient Egypt, she has studied healing and medicine in the pursuit of helping people, especially children.

The studies were challenging enough, but after opening the doors of her practice she’s seen few patients seek her services. Neferet confides sadly to her fellow healer and partner, Bener-ib, that patients do not come to them because they do not trust two young women with their health. They vow to change people’s minds. An early-morning patient defies this bias because of desperation, bringing the suffering florist to the women’s doorstep, bleeding vociferously. There is no question this man has been murdered.

Neferet’s father is concerned about his daughter’s involvement in a murder investigation. He worries not only about the violence of a killer, but about the malice of a rival healer, and a potential confrontation with his own sworn enemy – the former chief of police, Mahu. But father and daughter are much alike, and despite Hani’s misgivings, Neferet continues on her investigation, with help from Bener-ib and their medical assistant, a youth who exhibits remarkable detective skills. When the mystery takes a diabolical turn, will Neferet muster the courage to nip the killer in the bud?

Author Holmes creates a compelling historical mystery, full of detail and curiosity.

Flowers of Evil immerses readers deeply into the historical world of Ancient Egypt. Visual descriptions give a colorful perspective in the midst of the culture and community, of the time. This story is a vivid visit to a place long since gone to the sands of history. N.L. Holmes proves herself both a professional archaeologist and an extraordinary storyteller.

This is the first book in the Hani’s Daughter Mysteries, and warmly welcomes readers back to the world and characters of the much-loved Lord Hani Mysteries series. Neferet takes the helm with an exciting and treacherous tale.

October 6, 2023
EO-N by Dave Mason – Historical Fiction, WWII Fiction, Historical Mystery

A young boy in Norway makes a discovery while playing with his dog, opening the mystery of EO-N by Dave Mason, a detective story spanning multiple decades and both sides of the Atlantic, a deep dive into the horrors of Nazi Germany, and a heartfelt love story.

A small metal fragment leads to the discovery of a downed WWII twin-engine Mosquito fighter-bomber hidden in snow and glacial ice for nearly 75 years. The crash site yields an initial set of clues, one of which finds its way across the world to Alison Wiley, a biotech CEO in Seattle. Having recently lost her mother, and, a few years earlier, her brother in Afghanistan, she finds her days full of despair, but the discovery makes a distant connection to her long-lost grandfather, and she flies to Norway. There, she meets Scott Wilcox, a Canadian researcher assigned to investigate the discovery after his government learned that the crashed aircraft belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their attraction is both intellectual and emotional, but the quest to uncover the plane’s mysteries and the fate of Alison’s grandfather place any romance to the side.

At first, the crash doesn’t appear exceptional, until certain contradictory and confusing clues emerge that make it clear that the circumstances that led to the plane’s fate were anything but simple.

EO-N’s story is complex, leading the reader from clue to revelation with a sure hand. And it takes a dark secret from the past and develops it into something that might make the world a better place.

The details are key to the novel’s success. Readers will wonder whether the facts outlined in the book are based on actual history, and while the specifics of the heinous Nazi activities at the center of the story may differ somewhat from reality, the spirit of the revelations rings true.

This novel is impeccably researched, and the characters are believable, warm, and heartbreaking. Readers won’t be able to put it down until its perfect conclusion.

EO-N by Dave Mason won the Grand Prize in the 2021 CIBA Hemingway Awards for 20th Century Wartime Fiction.

March 24, 2023
A DREAM to DIE FOR by Susan Z. Ritz – Mystery, Supernatural, Amateur Sleuth

Some dreams delight. Some terrify. Celeste’s dream haunts her in Susan Z. Ritz’s supernatural mystery, A Dream to Die For.

Celeste wonders why she would dream of a woman in danger. After all, it seems like someone else’s dream. As Celeste reflects on what she remembers, indistinct features begin to focus, revealing details. Celeste’s concerns for the unknown woman grow.

That dream, so tangible in the moment, refuses to leave her. How could it, with the woman in imminent danger? Celeste doesn’t realize that this dream will put her in peril. Can she find the answers she needs before a killer switches his target? Can Celeste and the unknown woman be saved?

Celeste rushes to the office of Larry–her therapist and Riverton’s acknowledged cult leader.

Despite her fiancé’s demands that she stop seeing Larry, Celeste hopes she’ll find the support and help she needs at his office. Instead, Larry convinces her to break up with her future husband. As for her beautiful engagement ring, well, that, of course, goes to Larry.

But when she describes the troubling dream to him, Larry trembles in fear, or was that fury? He throws her out of his practice. Later, Celeste returns to find Larry dead, murdered. The police are looking at Celeste as their primary suspect. Someone else’s dream becomes her nightmare.

In immediate need of a savvy defense attorney, Celeste pleads for help from an old friend.

Together the accused and her lawyer begin a fantastic, desperate, and risky investigation to find Larry’s killer. That strange dream, and the woman in it, become a surprising key to proving Celeste’s innocence.

Through their analysis of clues and suspects, they plunge into the depths of Larry’s cult, now in disarray. Both cult followers and doubters reveal many surprises. These two groups struggle against each other, but they may need to find a way to cooperate to expose the events that led up to Larry’s murder – and who did it.

A chilling mystery, author Susan Z. Ritz has filled her book with intrigue and subtle clues.

A variety of suspects hide the most compelling motives. Which of these Riverton characters, including Celeste’s intended, killed Larry? Can Celeste trust the guy, despite his questionable actions? This investigation puts her love for him to an extreme test. Can she live with him? Will she live without him? Should she fear him?

Ritz weaves a clever plot, set in a plausible contemporary social issue of a cult that demands complete loyalty and dominates every aspect of its followers’ lives.

How could Celeste prove her innocence and name the one who killed the cult leader? Celeste and others struggle to break the cult’s puzzling and psychological hold on them and learn to live free of it. Will the truth of the murder and the cult be discovered? Can Celeste save the woman in her dream? Will she find the killer before another person succumbs to A Dream To Die For?

A Dream to Die For by Susan Z. Ritz won First Place in the 2019 CIBA Mystery and Mayhem Book Awards for Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mysteries.

January 19, 2022
WRITING IS MURDER: An Emlyn Goode Mystery by Susan Lynn Solomon – Cozy Mystery, Paranormal Mystery Series, Women Sleuth

A perfect seasonal read, Susan L. Solomon’s mystery, Writing is Murder: An Emlyn Goode Mystery delivers a witty, intuitive red-headed writer who has many connections in her community, a handsome police detective-maybe-lover, a mouthy cat who keeps her grounded, and a Wiccan BFF whom she can trust with her most profound concerns. And, of course, magical abilities inherited from her ancestor, Salem’s legendary accused witch Sarah Goode, adds layers of mystique.

When Roger Frey interrupts Emlyn Goode battling her recalcitrant muse, she can’t be upset. Roger, aka Police Detective Roger Frey, her next-door neighbor and sometimes sleep-over boyfriend, stumbles on the hunt for coffee, a good-morning kiss, and a sympathetic ear, in that order. He’s bored at work and wants to complain.

She’s heard it all before. But soon, she sees something remarkable.

When Emlyn goes to her writers group, she experiences an out-of-body experience that takes her back in time. She travels across to the Crystal Beach amusement park, across the lake in Canada, where modern-day condominiums grow. There, she glimpses two couples, one unfamiliar to her, the other, her parents. Before she can process what she sees, one of Em’s writing cohorts jerks her away from the action, asking her a question.

The group takes a break, and Emlyn has a curious talk with Daniel Bennett, the newest writer in the group. Daniel shares with her a copy of an old document he found in his deceased grandfather’s possessions. She catches only a glimpse of it before Daniel gets spooked and puts it away – but she won’t forget.

The mystery sparks to life.

A few days later, on Halloween night, Em joins her writing cohorts for a ghost hunt. Their good fun turns to horror when they discover Daniel’s murdered body in an empty, historic home. Emlyn, to her dismay, might be implicated.

Susan Solomon skillfully uses a prologue to set Writing is Murder’s theme and mood. She introduces the reader to “perhaps one of the most haunted areas in the country,” relates the legend of an ancient Tuscarora curse and seemingly related murders, and includes accurate descriptions of historical places and events in western New York State. All this pulls the reader into the story and keeps them there.

As the story progresses, Emlyn realizes that the past and present must somehow converge before solving the murder. Thanks to Emlyn’s unique gifts, along with her friend Rebecca Nurse’s witchy knowledge and advice, she might do just that.

Writing is Murder: An Emlyn Goode Mystery will entertain readers who love their mysteries with a bit of paranormal in the mix. The plot twists and turns to satisfy even the most ardent sleuths. In addition, the burgeoning romance coupled with sometimes glib banter, and the notion that potions and spells may really work, highlight the characters’ charm.

Susan Lynn Solomon’s Writing is Murder: An Emlyn Goode Mystery won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards for Cozy and Not So Cozy reads.

October 25, 2021
BLOOD on a BLUE MOON: A Sheaffer Blue Mystery by Jessica H. Stone – Amatuer Sleuth, Female Sleuth, Pacific Northwest Mystery

Jessica H. Stone delivers a killer first book in her new murder mystery series, Blood on a Blue Moon: A Sheaffer Blue Mystery.

Somewhere on the line between Kinsey Milhone and Stephanie Plum, sails insurance investigator Sheaffer Blue on her sailboat Ink Spot. Probably sailing a bit closer to Plum’s chaos magnetic style than Milhone’s more professional demeanor as a fellow insurance investigator. But then, it’s the madcap nature of Plum’s investigations that makes her series so much fun – and the same is certainly true for Blue.

Blue’s job as an insurance investigator starts out as temporary as every other job she’s ever held. She’s just there to save up enough money to get her beloved Ink Spot’s back dock fees paid off. Once that happens, she will sail away to Mexico, live on part-time work, and sail as much as she wants.

Can you live on a dime in Seattle?

Even living aboard a boat in a low-rent dock slip, as Blue does, nearly breaks the bank. She needs funds to live her dream, and that’s where her current job comes in – and it very nearly takes her out.

The case starts out small. A fire on a houseboat where an elderly woman dies of smoke inhalation. Open and shut, right? Not so fast. There’s a big fish who’s pressuring Blue’s boss to solve the case pronto. He’s been eyeing the lakeshore property with plans to develop it into a playground for the wealthy. All he needs is a swift settlement and the rest of the houseboat owners gone.

Everyone wants the case solved.

Blue wants to do her job and get the boss off her back. She’s one step closer to sailing away, but the cops – or at least one cop, Detective David Chen, doesn’t believe the case is as straightforward as it appears – or as someone wants it to appear. And there are plenty of clues to make the reader’s detective hackles rise along with the cops, even if it takes Blue a bit to get there.

That’s what makes the story so fascinating, and the mystery so compelling. The more that both Blue and Detective David Chen poke into the life of the victim, and the more that the wealthy developer pokes into Blue’s boss, the more tentacles of the case begin to slither and the more the coincidences pile up.

And the more the reader is on the edge of their seat.

While the police detective brings his professional knowledge and detachment to this investigation, Blue’s style owes a lot to Stephanie Plum’s more chaotic process, or mostly lack thereof. In fact, her amateur detective status gets her into trouble – a lot of trouble. And this is what makes the novel work spectacularly.

Blue’s style of controlled chaos allows her to see things that the detective misses. Through her slapdash methods, readers understand why Shirley, the original victim, was the kind of person who fought great battles, inspired great friendships, and put herself in the crosshairs of a long-ago tragedy that resulted in her murder.

Award-winning author, Jessica H. Stone builds her characters with plenty of spark and mayhem – enough to carry an entire series. Readers looking for a female detective to follow now that Kinsey Milhone has left her alphabet unfinished, or who love the madcap and sometimes maddening methods used by Stephanie Plum and just can’t wait for her next number, will find a lot to bite their nails over in Sheaffer Blue’s first – but hopefully not last – case.

Blood on a Blue Moon: A Sheaffer Blue Mystery by Jessica H. Stone won 1st Place in the CIBA 2018 Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards.

September 12, 2021
The CORPSE WORE STILETTOS by MJ O’Neill – Cozy Mystery, Women Sleuths, Amateur Sleuths

The Corpse Wore Stilettos by MJ O’Neill brings down the house in a most delightful way.

Four months ago, Kat Water’s life fell apart. Her father, a prominent insurance broker, was arrested on racketeering charges, accused of laundering money for the mob. A successful museum curator in Boston, Kat immediately dropped everything to return to St. Louis, leaving her fiance and career behind. With all of their possessions seized and their bank accounts frozen, Kat’s mother, Lauren, and her grandmother, Theodora, are left poverty-stricken. Kat, with her family name now dragged through the mud by the media, can only find a job in the county morgue. With her minor in biology and her detail-oriented personality, she finds her work most rewarding.

When tasked with processing the body of a believed prostitute, it’s all business as usual.

But the deceased girl doesn’t bear the typical signs of her profession. Then a gun-toting bad guy steals the body before Kat begins her task. Oops. Now, once again, Kat’s family steps in as fodder for the rumor mill, and everyone believes the body must be connected to her father, his crimes, and the mob. Kat determines to find the body, solve the mystery of the girl’s identity, and clear her family name. She grudgingly teams up with the distractingly attractive ex-military special forces turned security firm owner, Burns McPhee. As they chase the mystery – and the body – all over St. Louis, the two realize the girl’s death is part of a much larger, much more dangerous plot.

This novel’s character line-up shines!

With one misfit eccentric after another, they all seem to work seamlessly to create a memorably fun read. From shoe-obsessed drag queens to heroic strippers, this novel definitely delivers on character development. Grand, Kat’s grandmother Theodora, sparkles. The borderline “geriatric Nancy Drew” is a hoot! Often the feisty troublemaker, Grand cannot help but instigate – or fan the flames – in any bad situation. If she isn’t “shopping” in their police-patrolled, off-limits former home, she’s running around in kitschy visors (one for all occasions) and making revenge scrapbooks on ways she’ll get even with her long-time nemesis.

Another example of character craftsmanship is DC, Kat’s best friend and co-worker. He is, perhaps, the most interesting of all the supporting characters. With his fashion savvy and his cat therapist, DC has a flair for the dramatic. As Kat’s figurative and literal sidekick, he is in the middle of all the action. When he turns superhero – complete with costume – Kat engineers a complicated rescue scheme to get him away from what he believes are Russian mobsters. Kat’s other co-workers won’t disappoint either with super-timid Henry, gothic Meg, Marshall the perv, and Sam the tattooed, motorcycle-riding, aspiring chef.

Armed with outstanding fashion sense, a minor in biology from Harvard, and uncanny random facts that she spouts whenever nervous, Kat Waters is an absolutely unique and memorable character herself.

Her entire life, Kat’s been pampered and made to feel special. Her life was exactly on the expected trajectory: great job, correct fiancé, and numerous pairs of expensive shoes. She never dreamed she’d be literally penniless and working in a morgue to keep Grand and her mother off the streets, and though her mother doesn’t really respect Kat’s work with the dead, Kat learns the importance of her job in a way she never expected. She discovers that she is much more than a two-time Miss Missouri winner in the best makeup category, and certainly not the mob princess the media like to portray her as.

Kat’s a woman who refuses to abandon those she loves and one who willingly gives up her own dreams to keep together the family she has remaining. After the girl’s body disappears on her watch, she transitions that attitude into her need to find Jane Doe. While initially her amateur investigation stems from her suspension and punishment at work, her search evolves into a quest for justice for a string of prostitutes similarly murdered by a serial killer six months prior. Kat refuses to let these women remain victims of a faceless killer; their stories must be told regardless of the risk. She won’t let flirty reporters, sinfully handsome ex-army guys, or psycho stalkers get in her way, and she’ll do it while looking fabulous!

From the county morgue to a dominatrix kink house posing as a barbershop turned therapist’s office, this novel is one crazy adventure after another! Mystery lovers will not be disappointed. The Corpse Wore Stilettos won 1st Place in the CIBA 2019 M&M Awards for Cozy and Not So Cozy Mystery novels.

August 27, 2021