As a former bodyguard, it should be easy for Gary Fenris to kill, especially when the motive is revenge. But Gary has made two mistakes in his life. The first was letting the woman he loved die on his watch. The second was thinking vengeance could bring him peace. Local bookstore owner and amateur lock pick Kate Rowan loves nothing more than a good mystery. Her curiosity soon leads her down a … trail of blackmail, obsession and death. Despite the risk – or maybe because of it – Gary finds himself drawn to Kate. When danger strikes, Gary is forced to face the fact that he used love as an excuse for murder. And he’s got one last score to settle.
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An Excuse For Murder by Vanessa Westermann is a tense crime mystery with fairytale-like elements. Centered around a woman named Kate that owns a bookshop, who has dreamed about her prince charming. But she doesn’t need him to swoop in to save her when troubling things begin to happen around her. Kate can take care of herself.
I had so much fun reading this. I couldn’t put it down! I loved the characters so much and couldn’t help but wish that it would have a bit of a fairytale ending.
If you’re looking for a fun mystery that’s mainly cozy, but with a fair splash of violence and darkness, then you gotta pick this one up!
Never count a woman out when it comes to defending herself!
There are several aspects of this story that I truly enjoyed – the fact that Kate was no shrinking violet in need of saving; Gary is not really a hero but he is trying; Tim and Will nearly steal the show as junior sleuths; the mystery of Mr. Wendell who is not quite who you think even when you think you have him figured out!
This story bounces back and forth between Kate and Gary’s POV. Gary is filled with guilt over letting his last client die. Kate is a bookworm in love with fictional characters (my kind of gal!). Despite their history and background, these two make an intriguing couple. While the book is light on a relationship other than friendship until near the end, you can feel the sparks and tension between the two until they give in to each other. These two are supported by a wide cast – Marcus, Kate’s good friend; Tim and Will, two bookshop clients that want to solve a mystery, ah the joys of youth; Elaina and Ian, possibly star crossed lovers that create a little friction between each other to spice up the story; Percival, Gary’s coworker at the security firm; Ryan Delaney, a twist in the characters; and Great Aunt Rosalyn and her neighbor Penelope. There are some other minor characters but the previous are the main characters we see the most.
While the story is complex and kept me guessing, the ending was left open. The mystery was solved but I don’t think there was any real resolution between Kate and Gary. This could be that there will be another book and it will become a series or at least a sequel. I do think the story is engaging and there are some intriguing twists that make you think twice about various characters.
Overall we enjoyed it and give this book 4 paws up.
From the blurb: Former bodyguard Gary Ferris has the perfect motive to kill—revenge for the murder of the woman he loved. Then he meets Kate Rowan, a bookstore owner who lives with her great aunt. Together they manage to find an attachment in the midst of blackmail, break-ins, and murder.
This is an interesting story. I can’t say I liked it, but… I couldn’t stop reading. Thus the “interesting”. Items that distracted me: It’s very British, including terminology, but the author uses those terms in such as way as to make it understandable even for a Yank. However, the sudden shifts in point of view were problematic for me. I really don’t like it when an author does that and this one did so—not often, but enough for it to be a challenge for me to keep reading. I will note that I’m not talking about the chapter shifts. Those are fine. I have no problems with shifts to a different POV from one chapter to the next. It’s the shifts within paragraphs or short scenes that distracted me. And yet, I kept reading.
Also, the writing itself was…different. And I will chalk that up to perhaps a difference between “British” writing and “American” writing. It was very choppy with more fragments than I’m used to. And yet… I kept reading.
I wasn’t enamored of the hero. He was more an anti-hero. He was definitely a broken hero. Without giving anything away, I’d like to have seen a different conclusion to what he did. For me, he was unlikeable and I couldn’t figure out why the heroine went with him. And yet…I kept reading.
I didn’t understand the whole bit with calling Great Aunt Roselyn Mrs. Marsh – especially when Kate stopped calling her great aunt Mrs. Marsh (even after the plausible explanation) and started calling her by her name (without any explanation as to why she did this). And yet… I kept reading.
The characters of Ian and Elaina were interesting, but I’m not sure why they were there. But I kept reading.
I loved the scene in the book with Romeo/Prince Charming/Mr.Darcy – that was amazing. So I kept reading.
So there it is. I can’t say I loved the book, and yet, the author drew me in to the point that I kept reading just to see what would happen.
Would I recommend this book? Maybe – with the caveat that it is different from most Americanized romantic suspense books. There’s no HEA ending, but a HFN (happy for now) is implied and acceptable. The writing is also different from what I’ve come to expect—not necessarily in a bad way, just different. It took me a while to really get into the story…and yet, I kept reading.