Forensic Handwriting Mystery

By Sheila Lowe

Obsidian

306 Pages

Wow! Having just finished Poison Pen, a great whodunit, I wasn’t totally prepared to declare Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe even better—but it was! This book included much more descriptive information about analyzing handwriting, which is fun and quite interesting. However, even more so, the pace, characters and suspense created an exciting read from first to last page!

By now, readers will know one thing about our main character, Claudia Rose—she’s a woman who gets totally involved in her work, and if that involves solving a mystery, then she’s going to do just that! Her client, Paige Sorensen, has asked her to authenticate the signature of her late husband—on a will that leaves the majority of his assets to her, much to the horror of his own children.

To many, Paige might be seen to be a trophy wife, since she is much younger than all three of her “step-children.” But the key reason her husband changed his will was that he had learned that his children were not planning to continue Sorensen—a school that had been built and continued in the family for several generations. In fact, her husband had placed Paige as the headmistress of the school, ousting his daughter from the position.

Once Claudia worked with Paige on the authentication of the Will, she was somewhat surprised and then interested when Paige visited, seeking friendship. Claudia had been attracted to the multifaceted woman and readily agreed when Paige invited her to visit Sorensen and perhaps speak to the students on handwriting analysis.

Sorensen was a private school with about 50 girls, whose parents were involved in the film industry and sometimes were children with emotional problems. Paige shared with Claudia that one girl, in particular, Annabelle, was having serious issues. Claudia suggested a program called grapho-therapy—handwriting movement exercises done to a special kind of music—could possibly help her. And through this program Claudia and Annabelle struggled to trust and relate to one another.

When Paige and Annabelle were later kidnapped, Claudia was caught by her love and concern for her new friends...and risked her own life to find them!

Lowe has a way of bringing in twists and turns that not only add to the mystery, but are significant events in the lives of her characters. And, for those of you who enjoy ongoing series, like I do, it appears that a group of wonderful characters will be greeting us in each new book! I’ve added Sheila Lowe as a favorite author—how about you?

I recommend you get both Poison Pen and Written in Blood at the same time too. And have a wonderful weekend reading!

G. A. Bixler