#BookReview – The Secret Life and Death of Josie by Angela Kay

A fourteen year old cold case. A mother desperate to have her daughter’s murderer brought to justice. Det. Lexi Dixon has been handed the case in hopes that fresh eyes can solve it. The victim: Josie Parker – a teenager with a secret life,  a ballet dancer with a boyfriend no one had met, not even her best friend, and a mother, Jenny Parker, who controlled her life. And then the unthinkable happened, Josie was murdered in an alley beside a bar. Dixon and her partner, Det. Zach Montgomery delve into the case, slowly uncovering clues that prior detectives hadn’t. Was it the mother’s secret that led to Josie’s demise? Josie’s affair with an older man? Jealousy between friends? Can Dixon and Montgomery solve the case before their boss pulls the plug? Will Josie’s murder remain unsolved? These are the burning questions the reader will ask until the very end.

The Life and Death of Josie is Angela Kay’s fourth novel and what I consider her best yet. Kay creates a lead character, Det. Lexi Dixon, who is both strong and vulnerable. Dixon is a dogged detective, driven, and meticulous. In her personal life, she is the victim of domestic abuse. When we meet her in the story, she’s found the courage to divorce her husband and fight for custody of her son. It is that strength and vulnerability that pushes Dixon to solve Josie’s murder and fight for her son even though the odds for both are stacked against her.

Kay’s other characters are also well-defined – from Dixon’s partner to Jenny Parker, to the ballet coach and his family, to Josie’s secret friends and the other witnesses and suspects in the case. There are no flat, two-dimensional characters in this novel. Kay shows them to us with their beauty spots, warts and all – egos, jealousy, envy, addiction, and rage.

The plot of the story is also well thought out. From the moment Dixon takes over the cold case, the reader is drawn into not only the twists and turns of the case, but also becomes invested in the secret life of Josie Parker and the domestic challenges facing Dixon. Kay intricately weaves these two women’s stories together. The reader cheers for Josie’s case to be solved and for Dixon’s personal life to be resolved successfully.

If you enjoy a good mystery with a police procedural driven narrative, then this is the novel for you. I highly recommend this novel.

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Mystery

When Available: May 10, 2019

Where to Pre-order: Amazon

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Other Novels by Angela Kay

The Murder of Manny Grimes (Jim DeLong Mysteries Book 1)

Blood Runs Cold (Jim DeLong Mysteries Book 2)

I Can Kill (SA Aidan O’Reilly Thriller)

Short Fiction by Angela Kay

The Naked Eye

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About the Author

Equipped with a professional writing degree from Augusta State University, Angela Kay always had the imagination and passion of a writer. She has written many, many short stories in her lifetime, most of which won’t ever see the light of day!

During college, her playwright professor had urged her to submit her one-act play to a 2009 playwright contest. To her shock and glory, she was one of 23 across the United States to win for her one-act entitled “Digging Deeper.” Because of this, she was able to spend a week in Atlanta at the Horizon Theater Company.

She’d begun writing her first novel, The Murder of Manny Grimes in 2009 during a Creative Writing college course. The first draft was well-received by her peers and professor. After seven years of writing and re-writing, the final draft of Manny Grimes became so unrecognizable and so different from the direction she initially went in. Finally, finding the nerves to show it to the public, Angela published it in 2016 with ThomasMax Publishing. A year later, she followed it up with a second book, Blood Runs Cold.

Realizing how difficult it is to break into the whole writing scheme, Angela began a blog to help other authors, many of which deserve glory. Between her busy life and keeping up with her writing, she enjoys reading and reviewing books written by both traditional authors and independent authors.

Angela draws her inspiration from international bestselling author, Steven James, as well as Agatha Christie and James Patterson.

Aside from writing, Angela enjoys watching TV and movies. Her favorite entertainers include James Stewart, Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, Mark Wahlberg, Bryan Adams, and Jeremy Camp.

Angela lives in Augusta, Georgia with her crazy calico, Maggie.

To Contact Angela Kay: Website | Website Contact Email | Email

 

 

 

Book Review – The Murder of Manny Grimes by Angela Kay

The Murder of Manny Grimes by Angela Kay is much more than a murder mystery. It is a story about love, hope and redemption with a paranormal and Christian slant. When three young boys enter the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department to report a murder at the Columbia County Elementary School, Lieutenant Jim DeLong’s life and those around him will be forever changed. A fifteen-year mystery, the death of Manny Grimes, and a suspected murder/suicide are all tangled together in this thrilling novel.

Manny Grimes had information that linked the murder/suicide and the mystery from fifteen years ago together, and he paid for it with his life. As DeLong, his mentor Russ Calhoun, and the CSI team of Newman and Elliot set out to solve this murder, life becomes complicated for all of them. DeLong is driven by the voice of Manny Grimes to help him and he cannot let him down.He also discovers that his wife and Calhoun had an affair and it drags him down a spiraling dark hole of alcoholism and rage. His personal life is as twisted and mixed-up as the case before him is. The team soon discover that the murder/suicide might have been staged and that one of the victims’ spouses could be involved in the cover-up, but the case is much deeper than that. It involves a murder fifteen years in the past that was also covered-up. Somehow through this tangled mystery, Kay ties all of the ends together in a shocking conclusion.

What I enjoyed most about this novel is that Kay does an excellent job of weaving so many story angles together to form a cohesive, well-written mystery. She also does an excellent job with the personal angles of the story – between DeLong and his wife, the affair his wife had with Calhoun, the interwoven angle of all the families involved in Manny Grimes’ murder and the budding romance between Calhoun and Elliot. These characters are rich, and humanly flawed, making them believable. The police procedural is also well done in this novel.

The only angle of the story that would have normally warded me off is the Christian slant. As a rule, I do not read Christian novels. Not because they are Christian, but because they are normally preachy and not my thing. However, in this novel, it made sense. DeLong’s life was spiraling out of control and a few nuances of scripture gave him the hope and determination to get his life back under control. It was well done in this novel and not at all preachy.

The only flaw I discovered was a minor one – DeLong was checked into a motel when he left his wife Samantha, but in once instance, it became a hotel. With such a minor flaw, there is no way I am allowing it to detract points from my review. This is a solid novel and deserves to be read and praised.

Note: I was given a free copy of this novel for a fair and honest review.

Rating: 5 stars

Genre(s): Mystery, Police Procedural, Christian, Paranormal

To Purchase: Amazon

Book Review – Who Watcheth by Helene Tursten

Who Watcheth is a mystery/thriller by the Swedish author, Helene Tursten. A serial killer is on the loose in and around Goteborg, Sweden. He watches his prey, building up a fantasy in his mind that he is in a relationship with the women, and then when they commit what he considers a sin, he kills them. He also leaves photos he’s taken of them committing the sin, a white chrysanthemum, and a note with a Bible verse on it days before he kills them. His M.O. is specific, he always uses a cord with knots in them to strangle his victims and leaves behind some telling clues. The one victim who got away recalled that he had an abhorrent odor about him. Irene Huss is a detective on the Goteborg police department and along with her colleagues, she sets out to find the killer. During the course of the story, Irene has some problems of her own with a woman who wants vengeance for the deaths of her children. She directly blames the police department and Irene in particular, adding an additional round of suspense to the story.

What I enjoyed most about the novel is the interactions that Irene has with both her husband and her colleagues. Her character is well-rounded and well-developed. The other characters are well-developed too. The story unfolds at a nice pace – not too slow or quick, just right. I also enjoyed the police procedural. The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout and the attack scenes are well-written.

Unfortunately, I guessed who the killer would be long before it unfolded in the story because it was just so blatantly stereotypical, and he didn’t appear to be as sophisticated as I had assumed he would be. I won’t say more so as not to spoil it for other readers. I will let them make their own determination.

All in all, this is a well-written novel with a good plot, great characters and a suspenseful conclusion. I just wish the killer had lived up to my expectations so I could have given it a higher rating.

Note: I won a copy of this novel on Goodreads Giveaway for a fair and honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Genre(s): Thriller, Mystery, Police Procedrual

To Purchase: Amazon