Tag Archives: whodunit

Feb6

Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter, a Review

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This book was quite clever in its premise and execution. It’s set up like a documentary series about a cold case involving the murder of the stepfather of one of the filmmakers.

The story is set up as a series of production notes, articles about the murder, and interviews on camera with various people who have information about the case. The filmmaker is in the background for most of it, but appears a few times to set the scene for the people on the program.

The other characters are various professionals who have experience as either law enforcement, journalists, or other crime backgrounds.  We have a retired detective inspector, a criminal prosecutor, a journalist, forensic psychologist, crime scene investigator, a retired NYPD detective as well as the producer of the show and the filmmaker with his two sisters.

Newspaper articles, text messages, emails, true crime aficionados in message forums, and dialogue in the documentary make up the majority of the book. There are no chapters per se and this is a fun way for the reader to get the story and try to figure out the clues as well as who may have something to hide.

I loved this book and the way it was presented. It was unique and enjoyable. I did figure out who did it but I usually do. The ride to get to the solution is what I enjoy and this one was an intriguing one. While I did figure out whodunit, I was wrong on the why dun it.  LOL

The presentation of this story was ingenious and original. I really enjoyed it.

BLURB:

It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…

Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?

True crime lovers and savvy readers, you can review the evidence and testimony at the same time as the experts. But can you solve the case before they do?

Nov21

The Devil You Know by P.J. Tracy- a Review

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I’ve been busy finishing one manuscript before National Novel Writing Month and then in the throes of NaNo- but since I reached the 50,000 word mark on Saturday, I decided to read for fun on Saturday. Here is the review of that book.

I received this book from Minotaur and NetGalley in exchange for a review.

It’s kind of funny that as I was reading this one, I was thinking I was gobbling it up. I didn’t even think about it being the week of Thanksgiving until I was writing this review. But I did gobble up this story. I read it in part of one day in two sittings. Probably would have read it in one sitting but I had to head to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.

This is clearly the third or fourth book in a series.  I have not read any of the others, but that did not take away from my enjoyment at all. There’s enough back story woven in to make it so it’s not necessary to have read the others. I will go back now and catch myself up but not because I need to in order to follow this plot. Only because I did enjoy this one so much that I’d like to read the others.

The story here is very Hollywood heavy and having been to Los Angeles, I enjoyed the way the author made the city a big part of the story. Even including Pink’s hot dog joint on La Brea.

The characters are well written and fully fleshed out. No one seemed one dimensional at all and that takes real talent and care. Especially with the large cast of characters in this story. All of the characters had distinct personalities and quirks.

I did figure out the whodunnits pretty swiftly, but that didn’t take away from the fact that I was scrolling through the pages eating up the dialogue and action.

The pace was well done and the author’s use of language was smart and refreshing. So many times, crime stories are not done with sophisticated language and nuance. This was different and I quite enjoyed it.

The main protagonist is a female detective and she was likable and relatable. Her relationship with her partner was amusing and they worked well together. I was happy to see the author gave both of them insight and that she allowed them to solve the case together with each giving ideas and building off what the other thought. So many times in these stories, the lead character is always the smartest person in the room and never asks for help nor bounces ideas off others. The way these two were written seems much more realistic. I enjoyed the relationship between them.

I don’t often give five stars—four is pretty much as high as I go even when I enjoy a story, but since I got so wrapped up in this one, I’m giving it a five.