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My old blog disappeared. However, you can still old posts by clicking this link 

http://murdermysteryblogofjoie.blogspot.com/

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The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

From Amazon:

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name―and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. 

My Take:

There are 2 crimes , 25 years apart that involves almost all of the characters at the present time. 25 Years ago, a teenager of ill repute supposedly drowns. It was ruled an accidental death but her younger sister refuses to believe it was an accident. She starts hounding Rachel to help solve her sister's murder.

25 years later the granddaughter of the police chief is raped and both her mother and father demand justice. The Prosecuting lawyer of the rape victim finds an eye witness, a severely scarred homeless guy who just got out of jail. They found out that he was inprissoned for being the driver of the car that hit the tree causing the demise of 2 of his friends 25 years ago.

What really happened:

There were 4 of them. 2 raped the girl while the others watched. However, one of them, the badly scarred homeless guy 25 years earlier was enraged and put up a fight. The other 3 beat him up and decides to kill him. They put him in the truck and can't decide whether to bring him to the hospital or just dispose his body. In the meantime, the 3rd guy, who happens to be the police chief's son, decides to get rid of the evidence and throw the girl's body in the lake. He is the father of the victim raped 25 years later. 

When he catches up with the others, he sees that the truck hits the tree and kills both boys. The 3rd one , the boy they beat up is barely alive. So he calls his father, the police chief, and they place the unconscious boy in the driver's seat and burns the truck. 

Unbeknownst to them the unconscious boy wakes up and is badly burned. He is then blamed for the death of the other 2 and incarcerated after undergoing several operations. When released, he goes back to the town he came from but under a different name. He then became the witness for the prosecution. After solving the crimes, the father of the raped girl escapes and kills himself. The Raped girl and her mother leaves town to start all over again.

The swimmer is aquited for the crime of rape but is still found guilty on 2 other crimes related to the rape. The homeless guy is told he never caused the death of the other 2 boys and cries.

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

 

From Amazon:

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. 

My Take:

I loved the idea of a forensic photographer seeing ghosts at the crime scene. What I didn't like was a particular ghost from the start of the story who ended up being annoying, irritating and very self-centered that she always puts Rita in very precarius situations. 

Instead of trying to ingratiate Rita to her side by being more amiable ,she constantly harasses the poor girl and brings her to unsafe situations. I just want to bring her back from the dead and throw her over the bridge again and again until she becomes more tranquil and appreciative of what Rita can do her her. She's just like a raging banshee that you would like to burn in a stake.

Anyway, everything turns out well with the bad guy getting what he deserved,

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

 

Amazon's Summary:

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

My Review:

When Hazel's step father passes away, his brother, notifies her that she inherited his house. This made one of her step brothers upset because he felt the house should be split between the 3 of them.

Important details:

1. Her step brothers' real mother died in an accident which was witnessed by Caden, the younger brother. He has suppressed this memory thus making him have terrifying nightmares when he was young.

2. Her stepfather marries her criminal mother and life goes on smoothly until her mother disappears and supposedly drained her stepfather's bank account.This created a very hostile atmosphere between Caden and her. The older brother,Gage, did not change the way he treated his stepsister.

3. There were actually 3 crimes that made the whole scenario very confusing. The recent one was about a group of teenagers who broke into homes and stole an item as proof of their deed. The second one was the one that happened 10 years ago was when her mother disappeared and siphoned ll money from her stepdad's bank account. The other one was the accidental death of her step brothers's mom.

4. What really happened:

    * The boys' real mom was having an affair with the uncle and accidentally died while trying to meet him. This was witnessed by Caden,the younger brother. Caden confesses this incident to Hazel's mom who decides to escape, fearing for her life. She had intentions of coming back for Hazel and writes a note to Hazel. Why she didn't bring Hazel in the first place is beyond me. She had to make her new place safer for Hazel before getting her?

    * Gage sees the note and thinks his father killed Hazel's mom so he replaces the note. His father thought Gage killed the mom so he siphoned all his cash and placed it inside a secret wall. This is to make it appear her mom took the money and left. Minwhile, the uncle was blackmailing the father all these years. Caden thinks the mon left because he told him her secret.

    * The father made a will and stipulated Hazel gets the house but the boys should inherit everything in the house which included the stashed money on the wall.

5. It was the uncle who killed her mom and all other witnesses. He eventually died in the flood while he was trying to kill Hazel. In the end Hazel split the inheritance with her brothers, with Caden and his family occupying the residence. It is assumed Hazel goes back to her own place and resumes working with her friends.

:

Bitter House by Kiersten Modglin

 

Amazon's Summary:

Vera Bitter is dead, but her secrets have yet to be buried.

After the tragic death of Bridget’s parents, her grandmother took her in. Vera Bitter raised her from behind a closed door—cold and uncaring from the moment she arrived at Bitter House. After Bridget’s high school graduation, Vera kicked her out without so much as a goodbye, and Bridget never heard from her again. Which is why, when she receives word of Vera’s passing and discovers she’s inherited the family manor, she’s immediately filled with dread.

Those worries are amplified when she arrives at Bitter House after years away to find an enigmatic piece of her past waiting for her. Growing up, there was only one person Bridget distrusted more than her grandmother, and that was Cole Warner—the son of Vera’s house manager and the bane of her childhood existence. Now, he’s her new housemate.

Owning the house she was once forced to leave with a man she’s always despised forces Bridget to confront feelings and questions she’s been running from since the day she was driven away from Bitter House.

My review:

Once she is forced to share the house with the son of Vera Bitter's secretary,things start to spark up. Though Claire, the secretary took  good care of her she and Cole fought bitterly as kids. But now the proximity between the two started paving the way for a blooming romance. Then she starts receiving messages warning her how bad her grandma was. Each letter proved to be true until finally the  truth comes out on the 7th letter. Vera wrote those letters and instructed her neighbors to gradually give it to Brigitte.

The bodies in the garden were the bodies of Cole's abusive father and the guy who killed Brigitte's parents. The secret tunnels let Vera and her neighbors  save abused women and give them alibis while they got rid of their husbands.

What started out as a promising novel fell flat in the end because Brigitte and Cole for the next ten years continued the crimes with the neighbors. I thought they would end this crime spree and live happy ever after. Apparently not!

Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea

What Amazon says:

When DNA results reveal a disturbing connection to the mysterious disappearance of a famous baby nearly three decades ago, a woman’s search for answers draws her to an ominous small town in Nevada and a dangerous web of corruption, power, and lies in this engrossing, propulsive new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Twenty Years Later.

My own review and Summary:

She decides to visit this powerful family to solve the mysterious disappeance of her parents and who was the lady who gave her up for adoption.She is then approached by the son of the sheriff who was killed while trying to solve the mysterious car accident and  the disappearance of her parents 30 years ago.

To summarize the whole story, the victim of the car accident was the accountant who suspected someone was malversing the funds of this powerful family. He was clubbed to death and the murderer used her mother's car to run him over. The sheriff during that time was murdered when he suspected foul play. When her parents found out this deceitful way on trying to pin the murder on her mother, they too were murdered.

It was her uncle, her father's brother who was stealing from his family because of his severe drug problem, As mentioned earlier he had to murder his brother and sister-in-law because of this knowlege. He hired a woman to give the baby(Our main character) for adoption. After the deed was done, he also murdered her. Eventually , he also killed his parents.

It was a very good novel but for some reason it was not as enticing as the other book this author made.

Those Empty Eyes

Description from:From Amazon

Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, nicknamed Empty Eyes by the media, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation.

My Take:

I almost did not finish this book because they never checked Alex For GSR. They found the shotgun on her lap while she sat next to her dead parents. Donna, one of the cops who was present at the crime scene quickly called her husband , Garret Lancaster, who was a lawyer to defend the poor teen.

The reason I had a hard time going back to the book was the fact they never tested the girl . The book was based on these findings and it annoyed me that such a simple test was ignored, The hardship and scandal involving Alex could have been solved immediately if they performed that test..

After checking on GSR made by shotguns and talking to my husband who is very knowledgeable about guns, I discovered GSR can actually disintegrate if not immediately tested. Hence, I grudgingly went back to the book. I'm glad I did. Near the end of the book , you will discover the killer and the reason why these killings occured. However, the climax was at the end when you find out the killer had a partner and was going to continue the quest for justice. The identity of the partner was the shocking part.