A Grand Murder

A fast paced fun read!

A Grand Murder is a caffeine enhanced race through the upper crust of St. Paul to find a killer. The story begins with the murder of a prominent business man on his own front lawn. At the bequest of their chief- a personal friend of the victim, Detectives Catherine O'Brien and Louise Montgomery are on the case. Armed with coffee and Louise's distinct driving skills, they are on a mad dash to solve the case before the Chief comes unglued. The story is fast paced, which I love and I never felt lost, which I love even more. Ms. Verdick Case has a fabulous ability to draw the scene and the characters at play in it. She made me laugh, cringe, get heart-ache, and want to shake someone- in all the right ways. I always had a clear picture of her characters and their reactions; Catherine's cringing as Louise barreled her Prius through downtown St. Paul, for example. I fell in love with the characters and their personal lives as well. I was cheering all through the book for Catherine and her husband, hoping the job didn't get in the way of their marriage. Mel, the security guard, was one of my favorite supporting roles. She has such a great sense of person and personality I found myself wishing she would pop up more often. Ms. Verdick Case also has a fabulous cast of suspects. She gives us reason to doubt or exonerate each one. The plot twists were well crafted and the red herrings dangled in all the right moments. Overall I felt I knew too soon who the murderer was, basically because she was a little too helpful, which the detectives figure out toward the end. I will give Catherine this one though- they were under the gun, so to speak, to figure out the case. In future books I hope that she doesn't fall so obviously for the helpful murderer trick. The plot was very familiar, which I don't think is a bad thing necessarily, especially if you are looking to pick up a traditionally written women's sleuthing mystery. I am a fan of getting what I expect. (As a side note, I also love Alpaca wool, and want a pair of the mittens!) I look forward to reading more Catherine O'Brien mysteries; I feel the characters and the author both have a bright future ahead.

9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Good Murder Mystery

This is a good book that was fun to read. A 4 star book for sure! It will leave you wanting to read more about its main characters. If you like John Sandford and Robert Crais you will like this book. A definate must read for Murder Mystery junkies.

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Loved the Book & Trailer!

I enjoyed this book, it was a great weekend getaway read and it captured some good Minnesota humor! Looking forward to the next book to see where she goes.... Catherine reminds me of Beckett from Castle keep the books coming! www. youtube. com / watch?v=yrOSSrvc5YM

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Okay quickie.

Four stars for mystery, three stars for editing. Not just punctuation ( particularly inappropriate apostrophes, which is par for the course in a free eBook). On page 77, Forster should be Carter, an unfortunate error considering the context. Other than that, good mystery fun. I'll probably read the next Case book, hoping that a better editor got there before the readers in the general public did.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Check it out great light mystery!

Good read!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

mundane

Nothing exciting here.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

good read !

Really liked this book. Especially how not-a-morning-person Catherine is. Can't stand it when main characters are perky, jogging, celery munching specimens of perfection. Most people are not morning people, so it's very relatable The dynamic between Catherine and Louise was entertaining, too.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Enjoyable

Quick, enjoyable read. Would probably read more by Stacy Verdick Case.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Okay

The story did not hold my attention very well

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good Book. Fun read!

This was a fun book. I liked the characters.The difference between the partners worked well.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Have someone proof read first.

Interesting story. But if I read one more hyphenated-word I think I may have gone insane. I think that alone will keep me from reading another one of her stories. I realy wasn't necessary to get the point across.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I liked this read.

It kept me engaged. Funny any light reading is what i do. If you feel the same way, enjoy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Read

Good read. Nicely written. Will look for more from this author.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An enjoyable read

The characters were well portrayed.. And it moved along at a good clip.. A lot of humor and an believable plot and character..

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great read!

I picked this book because it was inexpensive and I was waiting for a new release to come out. I am so glad I got a chance to read this book!! I couldn't stop reading! The plot was so thought provoking. I loved it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Grand Murder

Great book!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Nice

Nice

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This was a fun read,

I wish I could get more stories by this author.

F

Seemed amature. Too many grammer errors....did this book even get editted?!
vs

My review: A Grand Murder by Stacy Verdick Case is a first book

My review:

A Grand Murder by Stacy Verdick Case is a first book in Catherine O'Brien mystery series. I know that it must sound weird, but it was a fun book to read, even though it's about murders. It was smoothly written and the story flowed nicely. I enjoyed the characters and the humor in the book.

Regarding the plot:

Catherine and her partner Louise are getting a murder case of a prominent businessman and they have only two days to solve the case. It does not help that the murdered businessman was a close friend of their chief. There are not many clues to go after and since one of the the main suspects is also killed, the whole case gets more complicated.

I have read many mystery stories lately and I have to say that even though I think the plot was little obvious, then the book still surprised me with many suspects, interesting twists and turns in the story. I liked the writing style of Stacy Verdick Case, the book was easy to read, but could definitely have more thorough editing done.

Regarding the characters:

Before anything, I would love to tell, that I simply loved reading mystery story, where both detectives were women. It's a very rare combination. usually partners are either man and man or man and woman, but almost never two female detectives. I really liked that! Both Catherine and Louise really supported each other because they were so different from each other. Both of them made the plot stronger with their characters and they also balanced each other.


Generally:

I really liked A Grand Murder and I think that the author has done a good job with the first book in the series. She introduced the main characters very detailed way and it gave a good basis for other stories to come. The only weakness I can point out is the editing of the book. Otherwise I definitely recommend A Grand Murder Case to all mystery lovers! It's a great story!