The Book Addict Reviews: Crime Fiction for Beginners by Gervase Shorter

Genre: Mystery, Contemporary Fiction
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website
Rating: 3 stars
Copy provided by author for honest review. 

In A Nutshell:
The title of this book intrigued me as soon as I saw it--and as I read the book I was drawn into the multiple story lines that Gervase Shorter intertwined to tell the story of the publisher's murder.  And up until the very end, I was in the dark wondering who-dun-it--there is nothing better than that for me when I am reading a mystery.

Review:
When a publisher is murdered, the detectives have to sift through the pages to find out who-dun-it.  Pages of manuscripts from aspiring authors--authors that the victim had already refused to publish.  Upset authors who had sent threatening letters to the publisher.

As the detective sifts through the pages of the publishers life, she finds more and more possible suspects: an unhappy wife, colleagues who are happy to see him gone, a former employee who claimed sexual harassment, and the list goes on.

The story is told from the perspectives of the detective and some of the authors that the publisher refused.  As we follow the authors, we get snippets of the stories they are currently writing.  I did wish as I was reading that the authors' stories were separated from the action of the murder investigation in some way (maybe a border around it or a different font?). 

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I felt the beginning was a little slow and a little hard to get into.  At some points I struggled to follow all of the authors' stories--and figure out how they related to the publisher's murder.  But after the halfway point, I could not put the book down.  I had to know who-dun-it and how the detective figured it out.  I was surprised when the murderer was revealed--and then with the other twist at the end...but I cannot say more.  I do not want to ruin the mystery for you! 

Recommendations:
After reading this story, I asked about Gervase Shorter's path to get published.  Come back tomorrow for the Author's Guest Post "Murdering a Publisher."

I will also be reading another of Gervase Shorter's books for a review soon: