Perfect for fans of Patricia Cornwell, USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan's twelfth mystery featuring Mattie Ryan finds the Wisconsin nurse-turned-medicolegal investigator balancing a high-profile investigation with her hectic home life after a local realtor is found with a pool cue through the heart...
In her previous career as a nurse, Mattie Winston's job was to keep death at bay. Now, as a medicolegal investigator, she's required to study death intimately--to figure out causes and timing, and help deduce whether it was natural or suspicious.
In the case of Montgomery "Monty" Dixon, a well-to-do realtor, there can be little doubt: broken pool cues do not embed themselves. Monty's body is found in the game room of his lavish house, the walls adorned with photos of Monty and various celebrities. But as Mattie and her husband, homicide detective Steve Hurley, both know, money and connections can't protect anyone from a killer.
The first suspect is Monty's wife, Summer, who claims to have been at a cooking class at the time. When that alibi is served up as a fake, Summer moves to the top of the suspects list, but is soon joined by Monty's ne'er-do-well son, Sawyer, who has racked up gambling debts he hoped his dad would pay off. Monty's twin brother is engaging in shady financial deals. An affair, a Ponzi scheme, a disputed inheritance...there are as many motives as suspects, and soon Mattie and Hurley have turned up other, possibly related deaths.
Balancing a high-profile case with the demands of their increasingly stressful household isn't easy. It'll take all of Mattie's skill--along with a lucky break or two--to stop a killer from racking up another victim...
Dead Even is the 12th book in the Mattie Winston procedural series by Annelise Ryan. Released 30th March 2021 by Kensington, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very well put together forensic procedural murder mystery with a solid ensemble cast including a medicolegal investigator and her husband who is a local homicide detective. They're working together to solve the murder of a businessman and real estate developer who is found with the jagged end of a pool cue stuck in him.
I enjoyed a lot of things with this mystery. Main character Mattie is unapologetic about who she is and she's competent, intelligent, and formidable (both in height and singularity of purpose). The dialogue is well written and natural. I found the first person narrative took a little getting used to, but once I got over that, the story flowed very well.
Although this story worked well enough as a standalone, there are a lot of spoilers for earlier books in the series, and I would recommend readers who intend to seek out the earlier books do so in order for the sake of continuity.
Very well done. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
