FMAM MOSTLY MYSTERY REVIEWS
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May 2008
The Chick and the Dead
Casey Daniels
Avon Books,
2007
$6.99, 323 pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-082147-0
Pepper Martin runs cemetery tours through a Cleveland cemetery. Her life was average until she hit her head on one of the gravestones and garnered a concussion. With the concussion came a special gift. She saw the man whose stone cause her concussion and she helped prove he had been murdered. Now she has closed that case and thanks to a special stash of money he had, she was paid for her services. Done with ghosts she thinks until she sees the girl with pony tail and poodle skirt. At first she just thinks she is seeing an oddly dressed person and then she realizes it’s another dead person. Didi Bowman. And Didi needs help. It just happens that Didi’s sister Merilee who authored the best selling novel SO FAR THE DAWN. Merilee will be visiting the cemetery where her family is buried as well as donating items from her familial home to a museum in honor of SO FAR THE DAWN. Didi tells Pepper that it is she that wrote the book and not her sister and that she wants Pepper to prove it in order to help her granddaughter get on a good path and get her life together.
Pepper boss, Ella is Merilee’s number one fan is thrilled that Merilee will be coming to the cemetery and that the fan club will get to be part of ball in honor of SO FAR THE DAWN. However, the cemetery will have to be renovated to accommodate some changes Merilee want so make to her family’s plot and that means Pepper is going on hiatus. Ella suggests that this is a great time for her to pick some of the grave stones and do an extended study for the new tours planned for the future. But when Merilee’s secretary is found dead Ella tells Merilee that Pepper will be her new assistant. Didi thinks this is a great idea because it will allow Pepper to search for Didi’s original hand written novel. Pepper hates the idea because she isn’t found of Merilee and even less found of the idea when she meets Bob the handy man who won’t help her carry her bags up the stairs, or when she is placed in the secretary’s old room.
As Pepper investigates she learns that Didi has the tendency to exaggerate and tell stories so there is no proof that Didi really wrote SO FAR THE DAWN, and where Didi said she put it, nothing is there.
But things don’t quite add up. Who was the father of Didi’s deceased daughter? Why does Didi’s former co-worker have Didi’s address on her desk book after all these years? Why was there no sequel to SO FAR THE DAWN? Was the assistant murdered or was it some freak accident? And would the sexy cop that Pepper has been playing cat and mouse with catch her? Didi’s old friends say she committed suicide. Did she?
Casey Daniels has written a fun romp through paranormal and real worlds. Casey’s secondary characters are interesting and rich. They add to the story. However, the story is predictable, but that does not take away from the enjoyable repartee that occurs between Pepper and her ghosts. Cleverly done.
On a scale of 1 to 5. I give it a 4.5.
Murder's Madness
Alex Mathews
Veiled Intent Press,
2007,
$15.00, 339 pages
ISBN: 13 978-0-9794756-0-3
Cassidy McCabe and her husband Zach own a condo in the prestigious Marina Towers in downtown Chicago . They rent it to a young woman, Delia, who tells Cassidy that she must rent the unit as it will keep her safe. After checking with Delia’s psychologist and making sure Delia is on our meds, Cassidy and Zach rent to her. But one night Cassidy receives a terrifying phone call from Delia. Delia tells her that she must come over right away. She can not tell her on the phone because people are listening and it is not safe. Cassidy weighs her options but goes to find Delia in a frenzied state. Delia tells her that “they” have found her and are after her. Cassidy can’t figure out who they are, but eventually gets that while on the roof, Delia saw someone strung up and murdered. Could she have seen a murder or has she gone off her meds and the deep end? Cassidy is a counselor but out of her league here.
Cassidy investigates the roof to find a room consistent with Delia’s story. She also finds a drain where in theory someone could have dismembered a body and allowed the blood to drain away. And to the edge is a smidgen of a dark spot. Could it be blood? She calls the police and that makes Delia run. Delia doesn’t even stop back at her apartment to get her purse.
Zach is a crime reporter and has taught Cassidy a few things about investigating.
Joan is the head of the Condo board security committee and works with Cassidy to see if any of the tenants are missing. In no time they discover that Miles didn’t come and he might be the missing and murdered man.
It doesn’t take long for the police to confirm that the dark spot is blood and that the DNA is that of Miles. Did Tessa his wife kill him? Did one of the lunch bunch kill him? Miles and a few other tenants had a regular luncheon date. Who was the man who attacked Miles in the foyer weeks prior?
As Cassidy investigates she finds Miles had many secrets and enemies. Delia remains missing and Zach slips into a depression over his new editor. The new editor is not treating Zach with the respect of a veteran crime reporter but rather like an Intern and Zach is slipping away.
Alex Mathews has written a clever who dun it. She gives us a host of potential murderers, all with good reasons for getting rid of Miles. As we cruise through the book we learn more about Cassidy, Zach, and Zach’s son. She makes it easy for us to grow attached to them; for us to feel Zach’s pain with McCready his new editor. She writes in such a way to evoke great empathy for the secondary story of Zach and McCready. It is wonderful!
In the primary story of Delia and the murder of Miles she unravels just the right amount of clues at just the right time to allow us, if we can to put the pieces together and solve the puzzle before the reveal. Excellent.
For a cozy with a tad bit of the sensational put in (the manner of death), Alex has written a superb, easy, enjoyable read.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 5!
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