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Dead Winner
Genres: Mystery, Suspense
Age Groups: 18+
Formats: Ebook, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
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Winner of the 2023 CLUE Award (best suspense/thriller). A new stand-alone novel with a twist you won't see coming.
Be careful what you wish for . . .
Rory McEntyre is a lonely trusts & estates attorney who plays the hero inside video games. Then, his old flame, Monica, walks into his office with a $60 million winning lottery ticket and a world of trouble.
Monica’s husband, Tom, is dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. A homicide detective considers Monica a suspect, so Rory must be her criminal lawyer. Thugs from Tom’s shady business think Monica has incriminating evidence Tom stole from the company, so Rory must be her protector. Most importantly, Rory must be Monica’s private detective, because the winning lottery ticket is missing. As Monica and Rory search for the ticket, their relationship heats up well beyond attorney and client. Rory has the chance to win the girl of his dreams, but does he have what it takes to be a real hero? And is Monica everything he wants to believe she is? If he’s not careful, Rory could end up like Tom – a Dead Winner.
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
"An entertaining and gripping crime drama” and "a surprising and tantalizing murder mystery" ~ Kirkus Reviews
Midwest Book Review
“Mystery readers who look for more than whodunit elements will find Dead Winner compelling. It takes the time to build relationship puzzles into its overlying mystery; creates a strong, likeable, but flawed character in Rory McEntyre; and it develops realistic atmospheres to support its action and inquiries.” -- D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Insuet Murphy Reviews
"This is such an entertaining book. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to restrain myself from reading the end to see if my guess was right about what was really going on (I was!) I love the Noir feel to this mystery novel, which one of the characters quite correctly likens to The Maltese Falcon. It made it feel timeless yet contemporary with all the latest twenty first century technology mentioned. Rory was a great character and I loved him. It’s nice to have a lawyer as a main character. He’s sweet, very naive, and his ethics could be refreshed, but it was easy to sympathize with him. I loved that he was a gamer and the most important things in his apartment were his consoles, gaming chair and huge tv. Breonna was another character I loved. She was so capable and I loved how she handled the Northrop goons. The different plot lines focusing on Rory, Buster, and the police were all expertly handled. I haven’t read the author’s other books, so I wasn’t aware that there were cameos from his other works, but I loved reading that there were in the afterword. I also found the choice of names interesting. I could be reading too much into things, but I thought several character names held significance. Altogether a highly enjoyable, fast paced mystery novel with a killer hook and a satisfying conclusion." ~ Insuet Murphy Reviews
Awards
CLUE Award - First Place - Best Suspense
Nov 5th, 2024
Kindle Book Award - semi-finalist
Oct 1st, 2024