Stolen Secrets: A Dr. Cory Cohen Mystery

Sandra Levy Ceren
Modern History Press (2011)
ISBN 9781615990689
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (7/11) 

Dr. Cory Cohen, a therapist, was worried. One of her patients, Morgan, a successful attorney running for the District Attorney, was missing. Shortly before her disappearance Morgan confronted her following a strange, threatening late night phone call in which the caller divulged Morgan’s best kept, dirty secret. To the best of Morgan’s knowledge, Dr. Cohen was the only other person aware of her fantasies. Cory, extremely surprised about this, tried to find out how Morgan’s secret could have leaked from her office, just to discover weird and sinister events happening to her as well. Realizing that all of this is too much for her, Cory decided to hire a private investigator to help her discover the truth, and somewhere along that path she started getting quite interested in him as a man as well. Will they find Morgan? Which of Cory’s patients is behind those disturbing incidents? Will they discover the villain on time?

“Stolen Secrets” is a tense, quick paced and engrossing mystery. Its cast of characters is diverse and engaging, and the range of strong females will make this a particularly attractive narrative for those readers who enjoy books with prominent female protagonists. The dialogue flows, the premise of the story is engaging and the psychological insights into the various behaviors of Cory’s patients add some interesting side stories to the mix. A well placed red herring – or two – will keep you guessing for a good while, and while the solution to the mystery might not be mind-blowingly unusual, it certainly kept me entertained. Strangely enough, I probably enjoyed the side stories even more that the main mystery, which just shows how the author’s professional background – a clinical psychologist for over forty years – truly enabled her to entertain the reader with her insights into the darkest recesses of human souls.

I would recommend “Stolen Secrets” to any reader who enjoys a well written contemporary mystery with intriguing psychological undercurrents and a feisty, intelligent heroine.