Blood's Burden [Hardcover]

When Cassidy McCabe gets a phone call from her stepson Bryce that he's in trouble, she and her husband Zach rush over to help him. Bryce has had a lot of problems in the past but nothing can prepare Cassidy for what has happened now.

According to Bryce, his girlfriend Kit was shot and killed while he was upstairs in the same house. There's no sign of a break-in and the last thing the neighbors heard was Bryce and Kit fighting. He looks incredibly guilty and all signs are pointing to him as the main suspect.

Zach is a reporter for the Post and uses his skills to help solve the mystery of who killed Kit. But when he starts to doubt his son's innocence, things get complicated. Zach needs to focus on his job, so he leaves the investigation to his psychotherapist wife, Cassidy.

Cassidy immediately assumes Bryce is innocent and dives deep into investigating what really happened.

Was someone else in the house that night or did Bryce really kill his girlfriend? As Cassidy investigates the murder, she starts to find out things that Kit's family wanted kept secret.

How far will a family go to keep their good name? Cassidy loves Bryce like her own flesh and blood and will do anything to clear him of the murder charges. She puts herself in extreme danger while trying to solve the murder. Who killed Kit? Why would someone want her dead?

Alex Matthews has a unique voice to her writing. The characters are genuine and compassionate people. They fight, cry, scream, and have all the emotions of real life people.

Cassidy and Zach's relationship isn't perfect and I think readers will appreciate that. I look forward to more adventures with this duo in the future. In the meantime, I need to get my hands on all seven of the previous books!

Armchair Interviews says: Curl up in a cozy chair and enjoy this exciting mystery!

There's a death. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? If murder - who among the traditional array of suspects done it?

There's no fancy writing here - just straightforward exposition. Ms. Matthews does introduce one interesting literary device in her writing though. To distinguish what her main psychotherapist/detective character merely thinks from what she actually says out loud - Matthews sets off the former in italics. This eliminates the need for many of those contrived synonyms that teachers in writing classes have to labor so hard to steer students away from. Reading that a character first simply "said," then "averred," then "intoned," then interjected, and finally "ejaculated" - can make the page a bumpy ride. By simply putting a character's inner voice in italics, the author avoids having to constantly raid Roget's Thesaurus. I don't know why more writing teachers don't suggest this method to their students.

In addition to appealing to mystery lovers, this book (and the series that it's a part of) will also likely appeal to cat fanciers. Cassidy McCabe's cat Starshine doesn't actually help solve any mysteries - but serves as a sort of muse while McCabe puzzles through the clues. Author Matthews in fact appears at special events held by many cat shelters and finds a ready audience for her books at these animal rescue associations. Cats and mystery go together.

This book will also appeal to those especially interested in Chicago-area settings. The McCabe character lives and has her consulting office in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago famous for its Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Many Chicago-area streets and landmarks are cited as McCabe and her husband move through their daily routines, giving the book an authentic feel.

You won't find a lot of CSI-like forensic detail here. Research into physiological effect is perhaps not Matthews' long suit. In fact, she might have made a mistake when she has the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning appear "deathly pale." I'd always heard that inhaling carbon monoxide makes a person turn cherry red. But that's a quibble.

A little more seriously distracting is the wild chase that takes place at the end of this book. It's an unlikely Keystone Kops ending to what is otherwise a realistic narrative.

However, "Blood's Buren" is overall an engaging, ably presented mystery featuring a congenial, slightly later-in-life marriage - the kind of relationship you rarely find outside of sophisticated British detective stories. Having read this book, you too might feel motivated to check out the other books in the Cassidy McCabe series. Cassidy McCabe - therapist-crime solver-cat companion - has enough facets to fill quite a few books.

This story moves along through fast-paced, witty dialogue that sounds like real people overheard. We even hear Cassidy McCabe arguing with herself. Confident and assertive, the protagonist Cassidy assesses everything she sees and does with a skeptical inner voice. By the end of the first page, you're intrigued by this sleuth. By the end of the journey, you know this person well and look forward to seeing her again. A good read.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars