Blog Tour Review: A Grand Murder

A Grand Murder (Catherine O'Brien, 1) by Stacy Verdick Case, 2011. 224 pages. Published by  Before the Fall Books. Source: Partners in Crime Book Tour/Author.

A Grand Murder is the first book in the Catherine O'Brien mystery series.When a prominent local businessman and friend of the chief of police is murdered on the front steps of his posh Grand Avenue Hill home, Saint Paul homicide detective Catherine O'Brien a pithy, vertically challenged, St. Paul, Minnesota, homicide detective with a monstrous coffee habit and her partner Louise are given two days to find his killer.They soon discover their victim had a list of people with motives to murder him, including his fashion designer ex-wife, his mistress's husband, and the chief of police. The only evidence they have to go on is a missing cell phone, a stolen book, the victim's letter opener, and an ugly pair of Alpaca wool mittens.

First Sentence:

I rolled out of bed and lowered my feet onto the hardwood floor.

At first I was not too sure about A Grand Murder. Its was not due to bad writing, but I was a little thrown off by the language present in the book (not much for swearing in my reading), progress and I became hooked on trying to figure out who the murderer was I was able to forget about the language and just enjoy the story.

When I read mysteries, I like the plot to be nice and complex and A Grand Murder did just that. I really enjoyed the how the mystery behind murder became more complex the more that you learned about the victim's past and the way that he treated those that worked for him or were connected on a more personal level to him. It definitely kept me on my toes as I pieced together which of the characters snapped and finally did that scoundrel in (while murder is bad, he totally got what he had coming).

One of the other things that made heir version of A Grand Murder such an enjoyable read would have to be the banter between Catherine and Louise. I loved their version of "good cop/bad cop" because it was different and entertaining.
Catherine, while she did have a pretty typical detective personality, I really liked her...minus the swearing that is. I thought that she was an interesting character because she seemed to absolutely love her career, but was also aware that it may not be the best thing for her marriage; I also liked that she forward with her thoughts and emotions. Guess you can say that I like blunt characters.

What I really enjoyed about A Grand Murder would have to be the mystery behind why the death of the victim. I loved that as the investigation continued on more and more reasons, and suspects, for why he was murdered. But what really made this a great read, besides the mystery, would have to be the way everything tied together in the end of the book. I thought that Ms. Verdict Case did an excellent job on bringing the case to a close while still keeping the reader on their toes till the very end.

The only thing I did not like about this book was some of the content, which I cover in tn below. What I wanted to mention was a little too spoiler-ish to be included right here. So, to better understand why at times this book almost ended up not being for me, then the next section is for you.

Content (will contain spoilers; highlight to see):
There is quite a bit of swearing in A Grand Murder, which seems to be the norm for books with cops/detectives.

While there is not anything graphic, sexually, there is mention of  two different couples (not the MC) swapping significant others, as well, as perverted husband watching/filming (icky).

Final Verdict: A Grand Murder a mystery junkies friend.

A Grand Murder earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.