She delivers mail by day and solves mysteries by night. But when a hurricane reveals a dead body, will her first case be her last? Elizabeth “Stitch” Stitchway dreams of becoming a private investigator, but she remains stuck in her mail carrier day job. When a freak hurricane tosses her and her truck into fast-moving waters, a mysterious stranger is her only saving grace. But after a dead body … grace. But after a dead body bubbles to the surface, her raw PI instincts aren’t sure if her savior is a witness or a suspect…
When Stitch starts to receive letters from her protector, she dives head first into a murder investigation. As she searches for clues, the mystery man asks her for help at the expense of her postal responsibilities. But will trusting the suspect make her the next victim?
The Mailbox, Book 1 is a PI murder mystery filled with clever twists and turns. If you like smart female investigators, puzzling plots, and page-turning surprises, then you’ll love Mary Jane Forbes’ parcel of thrills.
Pick up The Mailbox to unwrap a package of suspense today!
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This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. Mainly because it was an unusual story, you don’t get mail cozy mysteries where the main character is a post woman. The mystery was good and it kept you wondering if Elizabeth should be trusting the stranger or not, which kept me listening. The story did have a number of points of view so you were left wondering which character was talking- I think it was to add tension to the story and make you think something else was going on and all the characters did talk to themselves a lot but other than that I did enjoy it. Elizabeth was very bubbly and knew everybody by name making her great for becoming a private investigator, if a little bit naive and trusting.
Elizabeth wants to deliver the last of her post before a hurricane hits. Unfortunately mother nature has other plans and blows her and her van into a fast flowing river. While Elizabeth struggles to save the last of her packages a stranger saves her life by dragging her out of the water, only to dive back in when another body hits the side of the van. This person wasn’t so lucky and before Elizabeth can catch her breath a thank the stranger he disappears. The only clue as to who helped her is from the message he leaves in an empty mail box apologizing for leaving her with the police. Elizabeth has always wanted to become a private detective and now she gets her very first case to investigate. Who is the mystery man and who killed the woman found in the river?
I liked the narrator, as I said Elizabeth is a very bubbly character and the narrator does a good job portraying that fact
Great book
I thought this book was unique and I mean that in a good way. It is a cozy mystery but not the norm. I thought Elizabeth Stitchway was a fun character. I enjoyed watching her character develop from a kind of shy person into the PI she becomes by the end. I thought the little bit of romance was part of Elizabeth coming out of her shell and starting to see life and experience it. There is no strong langage or sex almost a teenage girls look at puppy love but Elizabeth is in her 30’s. I will be looking into the next book in this interesting series.
Unusual Cozy Mystery Premise
Appropriate reading for teens – adults
No sex
No memorable strong language
This being the first book in a series and therefore the one to induce readers to continue, mistakes should be identified and fixed. The author has had since 2010 to do so.
Grammarians beware: There are multiple issues: Odd and distracting paragraphing breaks in the Kindle edition may be due to imperfect formatting. However, an editor should review this piece for correct use of sentence structure, commas, capitalization, and spelling. For example, Bible, when referring to the book used in church, should always be capitalized.
Language is sometimes stilted, particularly when dialogue is used to give us background information.
Plot: Fairly good. A mail lady who is pursuing a career as to be a PI, naturally becomes part of a murder investigation because she finds the body.
Like others, I believed I’d guessed whodunit, but that didn’t stop me from finishing the story.
Light reading. You may enjoy it.