Lucky Stiff (A Mattie Winston Mystery, #4)

by Annelise Ryan

When a paraplegic who recently won a huge casino jackpot dies in a house fire, all bets are off as deputy coroner Mattie Winston and detective Scott Hurley, convinced that he was murdered for his money, take a gamble on the wrong suspect.

• ISBN10: 0758286023
• ISBN13: 9780758286024
• Publish Date: 1 March 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

Enjoyed it overall, I really liked the humor and the characters, but the end was a little too Woe Is Me for my liking. The investigations into the 2 deaths were great, but the other plot points (the romance, the gambling, etc) were a little overdone.

[MurderByDeath]

3.5 stars. Ok, I really love this series and I enjoyed this book. But it's not a 4 star read for me for two main reasons: 1. Mattie is a smart, college educated, confident protagonist, so the whole issue with the Casino just did my head in. Really? The author expects us to buy that Mattie is THAT stupid?!?! (show spoiler)[Honestly, Mattie really believing she can double her divorce settlement through gambling is just a really bad move on the author's part - as a reader, it just pissed me off.] (hide spoiler) 2. Poor Mattie just got screwed over so many times in this book it just became hard to read. Too much emotional jerking around for Mattie AND for me! I don't want to feel a wreck when I'm done reading what I consider a cozy mystery.

Having said all that - it's a really good story. I absolutely love Mattie and Steve together - or not, as the case may be. I like all the characters and I enjoyed her nemesis not being a big part of this story. The humour is a little wacky and fun, a little slapstick. It's because I adore these characters so much that I am so irritated by the events mentioned above. The author does a good job making readers care about these guys and resent when they are made to do stupid things.

There are two mysterious death plots in this story, independent of each other. Both were excellent and not obviously predictable. The resolution of one came as a complete surprise to me.

The book ends with a blatant tie-in to the next book and I hope this next one sees Mattie bouncing back and not getting quite so beaten down by life in general. I hope the author stops abusing the poor woman. :) But most of all I hope it's published soon! I can't wait to read it.

NB: This is the second brand-new Kensington Paperback I've read in the last week and the production values of the book itself are disappointingly cheap - even for a paperback.

[EBookObsessed]

I like that Mattie Winston is a regular woman, yet Det. Steve Hurley has his eye on her. Mattie eats too much ice cream, needs to get on that treadmill...someday, and with a bit of a dark cloud hanging over her head. If something embarrassing is going to happen, it's going to happen to Mattie. She is also very smart and as an RN she sees things differently then the police and is an asset to the Police Dept. This of course this makes pursuing a relationship with her police liaison, Hurley, impossible.

This is an interesting case that the police and ME are pursuing, but not overly thrilling. Added to that is an attempt for Mattie and Hurley to get to a forensic convention that is like something out of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

While the case might not have been a chase down the bad guy thriller, we wait while Mattie tries to decide between her love for her job and what might be the love of a lifetime with Hurley. Can she give up this new job she loves just to see if she and Hurley can light the spark between them or will fate continue to find a way to keep them apart?

I enjoy these Mattie Winston stories. I wish they came out more than once a year.

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