Eva Pasco
Goodreads: 5-Stars
December 30, 2024

Author Sharon Mierke keeps up the momentum for writing engaging and effective crime fiction in ‘Dead End,’ Book 3 of the Beryl Swallows Cozy Mystery series.

This time Beryl, a retired private detective, must leave Arizona to help vindicate Sam Gallaway, a close friend who lived next door in her former Midwest neighborhood. Charged with the fatal stabbing of his ex-wife inside his own kitchen, things look dire for Sam. Beryl is his only hope for finding the real killer.

A riveting enough premise, the author ups her game like a crime-fiction writing pro:

There are enough disgruntled men whom Sam’s gold digger of an ex-wife has fleeced over the years. Many who’d want her dead and let someone else take the heat for the deed.

I certainly couldn’t separate the wheat from the chaff. Most prime suspects had an injury requiring a bandage.

There’s plenty of painstaking sleuthing leading to dead ends.

I appreciate Beryl’s clever comebacks and how she artfully evades romantic overtures from the men she comes across in her line of work.

I highly recommend adding ‘Dead End’ to your crime fiction repertoire.