Official Review: It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr

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becky119
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Official Review: It's Murder, My Son by Lauren Carr

Post by becky119 »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Its Murder My Son" by Lauren Carr.]
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I was pleasantly surprised when I started to read “It’s Murder, My Son” by Lauren Carr. The first book that I reviewed for this forum was not very good and I was afraid that the next one would be no better. I had trouble putting this book down! Judging from the title, I assumed this would be a murder mystery (correctly), which is the same genre that I write in and one of my favorites for reading.

In “It’s Murder, My Son”, the main character is Mac Faraday—a cop who came into early retirement when his birth mother died and left him her fortune along with her dog, Gnarly. His mother was a writer (murder mysteries) and Mac moves into her home in Spencer, Maryland trying to figure out what to do now that he doesn’t have to work for a living. Luckily for him, Spencer is a town full of secrets and one of those secrets is murder. Another problem that is recurring in the town of Spencer is mysterious petty thefts. What is an ex-cop to do?

The story is very well written and the characters are developed nicely. I loved reading about Gnarly getting himself into trouble; the dog certainly has a strong personality. When Mac moves to Spencer he not only is entitled to a fortune but he gets to meet his half brother, David. Mac and David’s father was the former police chief and it turned out that both boys followed in their father’s footsteps and became cops. The huge house that Mac has moved into has a guest house that is occupied by Mac’s birth mother, Robin’s editor and best friend. Mac is able to learn more about the mother that he never knew from Archie and she even teaches him a little about how to enjoy the finer things in life, including Robin’s private stock of wine and champagne at the hotel that Mac now owns.

This book is filled with twists and turns that left me guessing to the very end. I love a good who-done-it and this book definitely falls into that category. Gnarly is a very memorable character, I love when authors have dogs that don’t quit in their books. Gnarly contributes something very special to the book and while I don’t want to give anything away I will say that you will be cheering for the dog on more than one occasion.

I was pleasantly surprised that the book wasn’t filled with gore or sex. I feel like there are too many books that focus on that alone rather than the actual story. Lauren Carr does not do this. She uses both gore and sex as accents, but her story does not focus around them. It was refreshing. I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

How would I rate this book on a scale of 1-4? Without a doubt, “It’s Murder, My Son” would be a 4 out of 4. The book was excellent. I didn’t get tired of reading it at all and was a little disappointed when it was over. The book had many surprises in it that left me guessing and there was the pleasant combination of humor and mystery that left me wanting more. I would most definitely recommend this book. A great read!

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laurencarr
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Post by laurencarr »

Thank you, Becky, for the great review! What a way to start the day!

Best,
Lauren Carr
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ValtearTheShadebane
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Post by ValtearTheShadebane »

Awesome review! Sounds like a good murder mystery to enjoy. Kind of reminds me of Sherlock Holmes stories with Toby in them.

Congratulations to Lauren Carr for a great review!
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katygardengal
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Post by katygardengal »

Great review! I like mystery novels and based on your review, this looks to be a great read!
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