Fiction Can be Murder by Becky Clark is the first book in the NEW “Mystery Writer’s” mystery series. Publisher: Midnight Ink, coming Apr 8, 2018
LIFE BECOMES STRANGER THAN FICTION WHEN CHARLEE’S LATEST NOVEL INSPIRES A REAL MURDER
Mystery author Charlemagne “Charlee” Russo thinks the twisty plots and peculiar murders in her books are only the product of her imagination―until her agent is found dead exactly as described in Charlee’s new, unpublished manuscript. Suspicion now swirls around her and her critique group, making her confidence drop as severely and unexpectedly as her royalty payments.
The police care more about Charlee’s feeble alibi and financial problems than they do her panicky claims of innocence. To clear her name and revive her career, she must figure out which of her friends is a murderer. Easier said than done, even for an author who’s skilled at creating tidy endings for her mysteries. And as her sleuthing grows dangerous, Charlee’s imagination starts working overtime. Is she being targeted, too?
I love this book. It’s a crime fiction reality coming to an author within a book that captured my attention. When her agent is murdered just like the crime featured in her book, author Charlee becomes the prime suspect and the only viable person responsible is one of her fellow critique members and how do you puzzle this one out without hurting any feelings.
And that is what you find in this well-executed whodunit with engaging dialogue and a woman determined to find the murderer and why isn’t her cop brother helping her out. A lot of things is in play and I liked how the author set things up to keep me busy reading between the lines. I enjoyed watching how it all came to fruition with each step the protagonist made that narrowed down the list of suspects until she got the shock of her life when it became apparent who the killer was. Almost a little too late, but our girl prevails with a few surprising twists along the way that added to how well this story was being told. Bonus for me was seeing a few authors I know name in the book. This is a great debut to a series that I hope is here to stay.
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FTC Full Disclosure – I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher.
This looks terrific, Dru. A great premise!! Can’t wait to read it. Thanks for reviewing it. I love mysteries that include books and publishing as a setting.
Reminds me of Dark in Death by J D Robb.
New-to-me author–yay! Great review, Dru. Looking forward to reading it.