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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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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 since 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 the 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.

Blood Oranges by J.M. Cannon

A beautifully written suspense thriller that got me glued to the book despite my severe allergies that blurred my vision. As always, the book authored by Cannon, always ended with  surprise revelation

Introduction:(From Amazon)

Catherine Cross is the most successful female televangelist in the country. Her congregation in the western suburbs of Orlando is one of the wealthiest. She's comfortable and charismatic in front of a camera, but when her youngest daughter goes missing not even she is ready for the media firestorm that follows.

Emily, the oldest child and protagonist of the story, tries to find her sister but instead meets a strange series of deaths and disappearnces on an orange orchard outside of town. 

Background:

Emily was born when her mother was 20 but since her mother became busy building her religious empire, she gave birth to Emily's other siblings at a later date. Emily is 10 years older than the eldest of the second batch of children : 2 boys and 2 girls followed.

Emily's marraige ended so she moved back to the family home but stayed at the pool house. We later find out her ex-husband will be the detective in charge of the first murder discovered as well as assigned to find her missing sister.

Another body and more disappearnces occur and leads you to a roller coaster ride that ended with a bang at the end.

The Girl in the Dark by J.M. Cannon

I love this book. The format is excellent wherein chapters were utilized. And just like that European tv seies that I watched called" Showendam", each chapter ended with a cliff hanger making me want to go immediately to the next one. Absolutely thrilling!

Synopsis: 

On a cold evening in November, Zoey Knight gets a frantic call from her sister. Their childhood home in remote Maine has burned to the ground.Two bodies have been discovered in the basement.

When the FBI suddenly takes over the case, it's clear something more sinister than a random double homicide has taken place.

There are several significant dates:

1994-It was the year the Knights (Zoey and her sister's family) moved to a remote town in Maine, Black Castle. Just when they moved, a fire started.

2000- This is where Zoey meets the infamous leader of the "cultic group" which the town folks called "The Family". This agitated her mom who argued with the guy for talking to Zoey. After the fracas , she made sure the whole town knew about their presence.

2002- Not much here but it will slowly build up to the following years.

2004- Rachel Berquist, the sister of Michael (Zoey's ex) and Evie's best friend goes missing. Evie is Zoey's older sister. This is the time the "family" misteriously disappear and the time Claire (Zoey and Evie's mom) starts blackmailing Michael in exchange for sex.

A little observation. Zoey left Black Castle 8 years ago and got married. She has a daughter. Either she fell out of love with her husband or she suspected he was cheating, but she quickly left husband and daughter in the middle of the night to drive over too Evie's place when she called. 

When she was there, she made every excuse to get together with Michael (her ex) even in the middle of the night to solve the mystery of the bodies found and what really happened to Rachel, his sister.

Though still in love with her, he still resisted commiting adultery with her bcause of a horrible secret he has kept for years and because she is married. Fortunately, she did not pursue rekindling her sexual affair with him.

She never called her husband or daughter, so the husband initiated getting in contact with her. She felt guilty for not calling her daughter but made no mention of missing her husband. The husband and the daughter eventually drove over there just to see her. Still she was adamant on finding Michael, her mom and Evie when they disappeared.

The last chapters explains everything and Michael eventually dies after saving her life. When she found out he died she was so aggrieved and found solace with her daughter. I guess she will have to consider loving her husband again now that Michael is gone.She still is so shocked of what she has found out and may take awhile for her to recover.

Six Graves by Angela Marsons

What I did not like about this book is that they merged two stories, with the second one being about disgruntled prisoner who hates Kim Stone . He has escaped from jail with the sole piurpose of seeking revenge. It did not lend anything interesting to the main crime other than just add additional pages of no importance to me.

Now the main crime:

When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene of a house fire, she’s shocked to discover it’s claimed the lives of two teenage children and their parents. But this tragedy is not quite as it seems. Each body is marked by a gunshot wound and the mother, Helen Daynes, is holding the gun. However there are questions if she started the fire before killing herself or someone killed them and started the fire.

Additional information:

1. There are remaining sibings. Twins. One gay twin with a partner and a female twin with a husband and child.

2. The younger daughter who was killed is 15 years old and is pregnant.

3. The mom changed the will stating she wanted children not naturally born to her to inherit the business and other properties.

4. She had a foster child who she had to return because she was having a difficult pregnancy. The child she was carrying died afterwhich she tried very  hard to get her foster child back. Unfortunately, Social Services would not allow her to get the child back because she might return him again.

Her mental state deteriorated but she still gave birth to the  the twins and eventually the 2 younger ones. Then she decided to foster another child.

What we eventually learn:

The foster child was actually the partner of the gay twin and who also seduced the female twin in order to get close to the family. When he learned the mom planned to foster another child, he was enraged because she returned him. Next, he found out about the will wherein she wanted any child not born to her naturally to also inherit. He thought she made this change in the will for the new foster child. What he didn't know was she intended to find the foster child and included him in the will.Hence he killed the family except his partner and even the female twin who was falling in love with him.

The 15 year old was impregnated by the female twin's husband. So he got fired from the business the family had and is thrown in jail. The gay twin eventually took care of his sister's child after the husband was thrown in jail.

It was such a heartbreaking story. Imagine being returned to foster care after the mom got pregnant. He did not know she had a difficult pregnancy and actually wanted to get him back. The change of the will was made with him in mind.

All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

 

Synopsis :

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. 

Isabelle  hasn’t slept well in a year since Mason's disapparance. This has led to the demise of her marraige.

Isabelle agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His unnerving questions has brought about very tragicand uncomfortable memories from her own childhood,

History:

When she was a child , her sister drowned while she stood by. Isabelle sleep walks and when she woke up she witnesses the death of her sister. Before she could realize what happened, she sees her father intervening. Everything becomes a whirlwind of bad memeories, with the cops closing the case. She thinks she may have sleepwalked(again) and did something horrible to her son. The cops mention there was no sign of any break-in.

Her husband eventually visits her and tells her he is seeing another woman who was their counselor.

What Really happened:

1. She was her husband's mistress while he was still married.

2. His wife got depressed and committed suicide.

3. The blogger is the wife's younger brother who suspected something foul going on because his sister was pregnant and highly unlikely to kill herself.

4. Her husband hated having kids and had his new mistress (the counselor) kidnap the child and give him to another mother who could not have kids or adopt. The mistress looks like Isabelle and the neighbor's cctv show her carrying the child away. Since the the neighbor was harboring his criminal son, he could not come forward. Besides, the face was not clear in the video.

5. In the past, Isabelle's mother developed post partum disease and killed her sister. She was about to kill Isabelle until her father rescued her. The Father managed to have the police to close the case so as not to aggravate the situation.

What happens next:

The husband and the mistress are arrested.

My take:

Stacy is not a fan of romance. I actually thought Isabelle  would end up with the brother. However, that situation never came to fruition. Just like in her other novel. The main character ended up breaking up with her fiance who she thought was the killer.

Don't Let Her Stay by Nichola Sanders

 

I almost regretted buying this after all the doosies I've ordered. Let me
just mention  some books I read in the past few weeks:
1. Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates.Though she always amazes me with her novels and EVEN her anthologies (very rare for someone to make a set of very short but frightening stories), I was greatly disappointed with this one. Though not bad, it did come come on par with her previous works.
2.Orphanage by the Lake by Daniel G. Miller- though not bad I was disappointed with it. I expected a gothic, asylum like scenario only to be presented with a modern but not too chilling setting.
3.The Sister Under the Stairs by Stena Holmes- I just don't like it. It could not hold my attetion for more the 5 minutes.

Now, my review of Don't Let Her Stay:
Joanne marries an older man and gives birth to a lovely baby, named Evie. Then out of the blue, his estranged 20 year old daughter decides to live with them and creates havoc to their normally peaceful life. The daughter is extremely rude to her and strange things start to happen.Then as the story progresses the daughter claims she was rude to Joanne so that she would leave her father. She insists that she is saving Joanne and Evie from the father who has ulterior motives of killing them and puttting the blaim on the her. She mentions that he killed her mom and youngest sister and put her in a mental facility,
Just as the story was about to end the plot makes a major detour and that really caught me off guard! I thought everything was finally unravelling until the last few pages!
Don't Let Her Stay!