Maria C. Poets

The premise of this story is great. One murder case which evolves into so much more. three murders, which are all linked, but may or may not be committed by the same person. There are twists, turns, and red herrings in here that make you question who really did it, and I will admit, I was not completely sure until near the end.

Dead Woods sends you on a hunt to find a killer in the midst of lies, hidden pasts, and sketchy characters. With so many possible suspects, Poets successfully creates intrigue while gripping the reader's attention.

However, what stopped this from being a great book, is how so many things were somehow overlooked (and then Lina would stumble upon them). Did no officer do due diligence when working a case? Background checks, known associates, life insurance policies, alibis, etc seem to be the first things police should check out. I imagine there are a lot of differences between the German justice system and the American, but this seems pretty basic.

*As a side note, some of the writing seemed stilted, awkward, and rudimentary, but this could be because of the translation (originally written in German) and not the writing itself.*… (más)

I received a free kindle copy of Dead Woods by Maria C. Poets, translated by Maria Poglitsch Bauer, published by Amazon Publishing from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I gave this murder mystery five stars because it kept me guessing, there were multiple suspects, the characters were well drawn & it kept me turning the pages.

Lina Svenson & Max Berg of the Hamburg Homicide Division are partners investigating the murder of Philip Birkner.

"Trotting along the gravel path next to her colleague, Lina Svenson furtively rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yearning for a cup of coffee. Max Berg looked very proper with his short black hair, clean jeans, a jacket & perfectly polished shoes. It was not the first time Lina asked herself how the hell he pulled it off."

The partner of Philip Birkner is being questioned by Lina. "Katja Ansmann raised an eyebrow, something Lina hated, especially when, as was the case here, the gesture implied contempt."

I enjoyed & highly recommend reading Dead Woods.… (más)