My old blog

 

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

http://murdermysteryblogofjoie.blogspot.com/

To see more reviews check out the Blog Archives on your right.

The Wife by Alafair Burke

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From Amazon:

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look—at both the man she married and the women she chose not to believe.

My Take:

I was very surprised by the outcome. Let's go through this outline style.

1. Angela meets Jason Powell and was extremely glad he proposed and brought her to Manhattan along with her son. Jason has proven to be an excellent step-father that people assumed he was the real dad.

2. Fast forward several years later. Jason becomes an accomplished best selling writer which has catapulted both their financial and social status. Unfortunately with fame and fortune draws the vultures to your lair. His assistant sues him for sexual misconduct and his mistress, Kelly Lynch, disappears.

What happend next:

Jason is aquitted and urges her to leave so that Charlie, the little boy, would be spared from the scandal. She does leave and goes incognito but for a different reason.

When she was a teen she was kidnapped by a pedophile. When she was getting older, they both decide to replace her with a younger woman. Lo and behold! Trish , a runaway teen ,from a very disfunctional and criminal family, is seen hitchhiking. They in turn kidnap her. Now she replaces Angela  and eventually gets pregnant and gives birth to a boy, Charlie. Then the pedophile brings Trish by the waters and shoots her. Angela escapes with the boy and finds her mother.

Kelly's disappearance:

Before Kelly's disappeance, Angela visits her to comisserate with her alleged plight. Instead of being sympathetic, Kelly ridicules her and starts spewing hate by saying Jason loves her and this was planned so that he can leave her(the wife) and take his son... The word "his son" darkened Angela's mind and filled it with unimaginable fury

After Kelly said this, an enraged Angela gets the glass egg and strikes her on the head. Fortunately (for me bcause I want her to experience pain and suffering) it only stuns her. Though hurt, she did not expect Angela to retaliate with such force. Angela was still full of rage so she pummels Kelly until she succumbs to her head injuries.

She then calls her mom to help her clean up the scene and get rid of his vile and evil woman's body. Her mom also makes sure Jason is suspected.

The Aftermath:

Though Angela seemingly escaped prosecution with the help of her friend, Corrine, the detective is not satisfied. She knows Angela's past. When asked if she will give up she adamantly replies "No Way".

My opinion: 

I believe Kelly deserves her her violent fate. I pity Trish, who became Angela's friend. After the birth of Charlie they should have teamed up and leave the pedophile.

The End Of Her by Shari Lapena

 From Amazon:

Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin girls. The babies are a handful, but even as Stephanie struggles with the disorientation of sleep deprivation, there's one thing she's sure of: she has all she ever wanted.
Then Erica, a woman from Patrick's past, appears and makes a disturbing accusation. Patrick had always said his first wife's death was an accident, but now Erica claims it was murder.

Patrick insists he's innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. Still, Erica knows things about Patrick--things that make Stephanie begin to question her husband. Stephanie isn't sure what, or who, to believe. As Stephanie's trust in Patrick begins to falter, Patrick stands to lose everything. Is Patrick telling the truth--is Erica the persuasive liar Patrick says she is? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

My Take:

I should know better that if Shari does make a novel, do not expect any romance. Anyway,as mentioned earlier the novel deals with a very evil blackmailer, Erica Voss, who not only blackmails Patrick but 2 other couples. She was the best friend of Patrick's first wife whose death though ruled an accident , still had very questionable overtones.

First, there is the blackmaul of Patrick who Erica claims murdered his first wife. When this did not persuade him to pay up she goes with the next bomb, he fathered her son who she gave up 9 years ago.

This brings us to couple no. 2 who she blackmails for custody and monthly payments. But she does not stop there . She blackmails a third man, Partrick's business partner who she has sex with !

Then the killer reveal comes! Patrick did murder his pregnant wife and hinted he wanted to spend time with Erika! Then he meets this heiress, Stephanie, who inherited 2 milliom from her father. Thus the equally nefarious man actually had plans of killing her off. However, he failed the lie detector test BUT got aquited because the authorities got wind off Erica's criminal past. Now he is in a predicament on how to kill Stephanie and Erika without sounding alarm bells.This got solved because Stephanie now suspects his evil plans and kills him off making it look like a suicide. She made sure she filed for divorce and made it known to everyone how depressed he got. Hence he was buried without any suspicion.

Still Evilness still envelopes Erica to the core wherein she congratulates Stephanie for successfully  killing off her husband. Another hint that more blackmail was about to come.

I loved the epilogue wherein Erika's dead body is found in the Hudson River. What blackmailers keep on forgetting - your victim(s) either continues to pay up or they just kill you and end your miserable life.

Where Are The Children by Mary Higgins Clark

 

From Amazon:

Nancy Harmon long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage, the macabre deaths of her two little children, and the shocking charges against her. She changed her name, dyed her hair, and left California for the windswept peace of Cape Cod. Now remarried, she has two more beloved children, and the terrible pain has begun to heal—until the morning when she looks in the backyard for her little boy and girl and finds only one red mitten. She knows that the nightmare is beginning again...

My Take:

This is one of Mary Higgins Clark's novels that has catapulted her to Best Selling list . Though made in the seventies, I bought this book during my Christmas shopping for 2024. 

Nancy is now happily married with two children with her new husband. Still she could not forget the death of her first children and the subsequent suicide of her first husband when their dead bodies were found.

The reason she was not prosecuted was because the eyewitness who was supposed to give evidence against her suddenly disappears. What made it worse was she apparently was smtten with this good-looking man.

Important points:

1. When her mother was about to visit her to tell her about her new love, she gets into a car accident and dies.

2. Heartbroken for losing her father first then her mother next at such a short span of time,she decides to marry her slightly older professor when she was only barely 18. This union produced her beloved children but for some reason she never warmed up to her husband.

3. When her husband hires a good looking student to fix something in their house, she eventually makes a pass at him but quickly backs out. Though the student mentions she made the first move, he was quick to explain that no sexual encounter took place.

4. Her children disappears and eventually are found drowned in the lake. Her husband, who was seeminlgly distraught commits suicide. Then the eyewitness disappears so she was let go. She quickly left the town and changes her appearance.

She meets a loving man and they eventually marry and have 2 children. Her husband and his secretary knows about her past but when her birthday arrives ( 7 years after her first children died) her past starts careening back to her life. Then the eyewitness also suddenly appears again just when her 2 children are kidnapped.

Tha Aftermath:

The eyewitness had nothing to do with her children's disappearance . What actually happened was her first husband never commited suicide and he was the one who killed their children. He also caused the death of Nancy's mom so that he could "own" her. The reason Nancy was disgusted with him was because he always "observes" her while bathing her ( another term for sexually and maliciously touching her). After the girl was born she stopped having relations with him. This was why she was drawn to the student because her husband revulsed her so much. Still she never cheated on him and quickly snapped out of it when she realized she has become slightly amorous to the student. She also found out her husband was hurting the kids (molesting them) hence her severe contempt towards him. Still, she had no proof. Then the kids die, the husband supposedly commits suicide and the eyewitness disappears.

7 years later the 1st husband appears, kidnaps the kids and seemingly starts to molest them. What's with these molesters' penchance for powder ala P-diddy that they use it when do the "vicious act". '. 

To go straight to the end she manages to save the chldren and have her 1st husband meet his demise by crashing into the icy lake.

Hence the real truth comes out and her blemished reputation is finally vindicated.

Not A Happy Family by Shari Lapena

 From Amazon:

Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can't protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.
 
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of the siblings is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you'd know.

My Take:

This is a wonderful novel hat keeps you guessing up to the end.Let us start wih the major characters:

The parents:

Fred and Sheila- The father is a very abusive man who takes pleasure is demeaning his children. Sheila is a neglectful mother who gave all parental duties and housekeeping chores to the loving and protective nanny/housekeeper

Irena- The nanny who nurtured all the Merton kids until they grew up. After that she was delegated  the duties of a cleaner and housekeeper for the Merton Mansion.

The kids:

Catherine, an accomplished doctor who is  married to a dentist named Fred. Unfortunately the couple had a hard time conceiving which the father relished in pointung it out frequenly.

Dan- the middle child who was always verbally abused by the father aand who is married to Lisa, a housewife,

Jenna- the wild child/sculptress who never worked a day in her life and was always financially suppored by her parents.

Audrey-Fred's sister.

Important details:

Fred was about to change his will before he and his wife were brutally murdered. He wanted his sister Audrey to receive 1/2 of his estate after taxes with the  children having the second half divided between them. Then he was killed before he had the chance to change the will.

The old will stipulated that Audrey and Irena would get each 1 million dollars and the remainder divided among the children with a surprise item: there is a fourth illegitimate child. Her name is Rose who happens to be Catherine's best friend and the shyster who defrauded Dan of $500,000.

To cut through the chase, The murderer is Jenna who tried to implicate Irena by using her car and used the work suit her brother kept in the garage. This is a suit which he used when he worked outdoors.

Unfortunately her DNA was found in Irena's car but there was not enough evidence to tie her to the murders.

Audrey who was bitter about the murder that cut her inheritance to only 1 million became obsessed on trying to find the murderer. Since she hated Jenna she stalked her niece and witnessed Jenna burying the evidence in a plot that was supposed to undergo construction. When Audrey alerted the cops about this, they informed her that she could not legally have another one's property dug up without due cause.

A year later, Catherine gives birth after getting pregnant the year her parents were killed. Irena left with her 1 million visibly upset that one of the kids tried to frame her. Audrey , on the other hand, receives her 1 million and decides to revisit the site where Jenna buried the evidence. To her luck, it was for sale so she quickly called the realtor  of the property with the purpose of buying the land and digging it up for the evidence.

The Ghost of Graylock (A Hauntings Novel) by Dan Poblocki

 

From Amazon:

Everyone's heard the stories about Graylock Hall.It was meant to be a place of healing - a hospital where children and teenagers with mental disorders would be cared for and perhaps even cured. But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods.As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He's got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back.Neil might think he's prepared for what he'll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he's certainly not prepared for what follows him home.

My take:

I'm surprised that I liked this mystery made specifically for kids. Anyay, it turns out that the nurse never killed any of the kids .

Neil and his siter where sent to live with their aunts.Their mother was recuperating from a mental breakdown after being abandoned by her husband, their father.

Upom arrival at his aunts' place, Neil becomes obssessed by the Graylock Ghost legend of the neighboring abandoned asylum. Rumor has it that the abandoned asylum was haunted by the nurse who supposedly killed 3 patients.

After investigating the legend more thorougly, Neil realizes that the haunting was not made by the nurse but by one of the dead patients. 

The nurse was actually living in a senior home and was quite aware of the rumors surrounding her departure. After careful scrutiny they found out that the last patient who died demanded to be placed in the asylum after her mother died. He, along with his sister and 2 friends, realized she was escaping her step father who she suspected killed her mom. The murderer turned out to be one of their aunts' friends who always tried to help them anyway he can.

When they realized he was the killer who was about to murder them, the ghost of the girl helps them escape. The killer eventually dies.

After the end of the summer, Neil and his sister goes back to their mom who has fully recovered.

Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf

 

From Amazon:

Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.

When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show—someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…

My Take:

This is the 2nd Heather Gudenkauf book I didn't like. There are 3 important characters in the book. The Owner, who was offering the 10 million dollar prize, her assistant and one of the contestants , a single mom with 2 kids, one with a medical condition and who is also dirt poor. 

The owner bullies and harasses the assistant while the poor assistant bears this persecution because she was saved in the past by the owner. She was sexually harassed by one of the bosses but was saved by the owner. During that time the owner was also an employee. They eventually left the company with the owner forming her own business and bringing the other girl as her assistant. Then the owner hatchd this new reality show wherein they invite contestants to participate. This shall be  live streamed and the one who finishes on top receives 10 million dollars.

When they started fielding the participants, they realize that one of the contestants was the man who almost raped the assistant. To make the story short, the owner, at the end, pulls the man with her and they both dove to their deaths after falling from the balcony. After the cops were called, a letter is given to the assistant wherein  the owner mentions she was dying and after paying all her debts 10 million dollars is left. The assistant is the sole heir of the owner. So the lucky winner was actually the assistant .

After the contest everyone goes back to their merry ways, seemingly unaffected financially by their departure from their work except for the mother with 2 kids. While trying to figure out how to pay her bills an envelope arrives from the assistant. She gives the mother a check for 1 million dollars.

It just wasn't as good as the other books of Heather, though as a stand alone, it was't bad at all.