Book Review - Death Takes A Mistress

Death Takes A Mistress: A Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery

By: Rosemary and Larry Mild
Illustrated By: Marilyn Drea
Publisher: Magic Island Literary Works
Publication Date: 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9838597-5-8
Reviewed By: Kristi Benedict
Review Date: December 6, 2014

After twenty-three years of living in England without a biological parent, Ivy Cohen has still not given up on finding the man who murdered her mother all those years ago. In addition, there is a possibility that the man who murdered her mother is also her father. Ivy does know from her mother’s diary entries that she was involved in an affair with a married man and when that affair ended the alleged killer fled to Annapolis, Maryland to engage in a new family business. With not much more than a picture of her mother and entries in a diary Ivy still feels a tie to the parent she was never able to know or talk to. Even after growing up with two loving people who stood in as Ivy’s parents she is determined to travel to Maryland from England to find the answers she has been seeking all of her life.

When Ivy finally arrives in Maryland her plan is to make it her permanent home. She finds a job at a local bookstore where the owners, Dan and Rivka Sherman, are sympathetic to her search and agree to help in any way they can. With a few calls to Scotland Yard Dan is able to get a full copy of the diary of Ivy’s mother and the hunt for clues begins. They soon discover that there are many people who could be the murderer when they finally find the family that the murderer is a part of. With the small size of Annapolis, it is easy for Ivy to talk with and get close to this particular family and she quickly gets to work inquiring and waiting for details that could help lead to the murderer. However, it does not take long before Ivy realizes that this quest for justice could be much more dangerous than she thought but she is determined to continue the search for answers no matter the consequences.

Going back into the past and describing the original murder that became a cold case was intriguing
and I was hooked early on when starting this book as the first few chapters were filled with suspense. However, I did feel that after the initial suspense it took a little while for the story to get going again as Ivy was trying to figure out the potential suspects. Towards the end of the book the excitement did pick back up and I was reading as fast as I could just to find out who the true murderer was. This is when I really appreciated the writing of Rosemary and Larry Mild as they had me easily thinking that I knew who the culprit was and then suddenly out of nowhere new information was given to the reader that turned everything upside down. When I’m reading a mystery I love when authors are able to do that with their writing and throw something at me that I was not expecting.

Quill says: This is an intriguing mystery that starts and ends with appealing and exciting suspense.