Double Twist – Stephanie Rowe

Steph Warren - Bookshine

Sep 21

*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author and Leah Francic at Valentine PR. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Blurb: In this new mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Rowe, the irreverent, underappreciated, and alarmingly talented Mia Murphy risks it all to do the right thing…even if it means doing the wrong thing.

A high-octane, feel-good romp starring women you'll wish were your best friends, an inconveniently attractive cop, a posse of gray-haired quilters with a fondness for margaritas, and an eccentric town with more secrets than Mia's con artist mom.

All Mia Murphy wants is an ordinary, law-abiding life.

Accidentally marrying a drug kingpin? Easily fixed with an anonymous tip to the FBI…which resulted in a not-so-voluntary, surprisingly stressful stint as an undercover spy against him.

But with her ex finally in prison and assassins in her rearview mirror, Mia is off to Diamond Lake in Bass Derby, Maine with King Tut, her rescue (aka purloined) cat, to start over.

Upon arrival, Mia quickly finds a couple of soulmates in a blue-haired "I'll show you what old is" café owner and a baton-twirling mail carrier. Life is headed in the right direction...until the trio stumbles across a dead body during a slightly illegal but well-intentioned home invasion.

When one of her new besties is arrested for the murder, Mia is the only one with the skills to ferret out the real killer…but she can't afford to resurrect her morally flexible past. Can Mia keep her life on the straight and narrow with so much at stake? Or will a homicidal, jet-skiing moose, a dead Mr. January firefighter, and an overzealous mayor take them all down?

Mia has to step up, or she'll lose her chance for the life she's always wanted and the friends she's never had. Even worse, she might wind up dead…

Although this is book one in the Mia Murphy series, for most of the first chapter I felt like I was catching up on events from a previous book or books, as Mia and 'Griselda' have a lot of history together before this story even starts!

Once I felt 'all caught up' with events, however, I really settled in and enjoyed this cross between a cosy mystery and an action thriller, with its tough, memorable main character and her absolutely show-stealing, stolen pet (King Tut rules!).

There is plenty of twisty plot here and I love how Mia's past is shown to affect her in both positive and negative ways, as it has taught her various survival skills but has to constantly struggle with the PTSD from events in her childhood and marriage. I was slightly less keen on how flighty this made her though, as she constantly vacillated between 'This is fun! I love danger!' and 'No, no, no, I'm out!'. I can understand a few doubts under the circumstances, but this felt like two wholly different people at war with each other inside the same head! And it was pretty funny how easily fooled she was, and how her friends could so easily read and tease her, when she is the expert con artist and espionage survivor.

She did draw me in though, as the story progressed, and by the end I found myself desperate to know more... who is Cargo? Can Mia get the marina up and running? What more could possibly be set against her? Is there romance in her future, or more bestie larks with the local good-hearted troublemakers? I'm going to have to try Top Notch and find out!

Anyone looking for a fun and easy cosy mystery read, with interesting characters and plenty of humorous hijinks, should check out this promising new series. I dare you not to fall in love with King Tut (and Mia)!

I held up a purring King Tut and peered into his yellow eyes. "Do you want to live in this gross little apartment building with an owner so bad that you leap a five-story gap to get away from him? Or would you like to go to Maine and keep an outdated, failing marina free of mice while I try to resurrect it with zero knowledge of lakes, boats, or running a business?"
He blinked at me.
I nodded. "That's what I thought."

- Stephanie Rowe, Double Twist

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Rowe is the author of more than fifty novels. This is her first mystery, but it won't be her last (because it's just so freaking FUN to write!). Notably, she is a Vivian® Award nominee, and a RITA® Award winner and a five-time nominee. She loves her puppies, tennis, and being as as sassy and irreverent as her heroines. She's pretty sure dead bodies are better in fiction than real life, but hey, never say never, right?