Thursday, June 15, 2023

Review: The Dying Five by Jennifer Wright-Berryman


 Genre: Mystery

Description:

“Murder and conspiracy are exactly what the doctor ordered, if you ask The Dying Five. Who says you can't solve crime with terminal illnesses?

When Eric Graham, the CEO of an Indianapolis start-up company is gunned down on his porch after a dinner party, a group of hospice heroes and their social worker go undercover to unravel the mystery. Investigating Eric's death exposes a scheme of national proportions and tangles The Dying Five in a web of greed, power, and peril. With the life clock ticking, they dance with danger in between naps and nursing visits.

Not everyone in The Dying Five is who they seem to be, and the secrets of some members could end the bond the group has worked hard to build. Their friendship fate hangs in the balance as they travel from their suburban spy lair to the rolling hills of southern Indiana, collecting clues along the way. As they're closing in on Eric's killer, another employee from the start-up company is murdered. The Dying Five are certain they can unmask one killer, but can they catch two?”

Author:

“Jennifer Wright-Berryman is an associate professor of social work at the University of Cincinnati where she conducts research about equitable death care, suicide prevention, and mental health. The Dying Five, A Hospice Heroes Mystery Book 1, is Jennifer's debut novel, and is a culmination of her love of mysteries and her areas of expertise. Jennifer is a resident of southern Indiana, where she hikes, bikes, and rides motorcycles with her husband.”

Appraisal:

This is a mystery story with the qualities I look for in a good mystery story. Those qualities are things like a search for something that is worth finding and a story that keeps the reader guessing with a less than obvious solution. But what raises this story above the run-of-the-mill good read are the characters involved in solving the mystery. Known as TD5, short for “The Dying Five,” they are a team of five people who all have a terminal disease or condition of some kind. Participating helps the five know that they are making a difference in the time they have left. Their conditions provide some different perspectives on life and with a variety of life experiences they have different areas of expertise, each of which is potentially helpful in solving their cases.

While this is the first book in the series, we get glimmers of past cases the TD5 have solved and how they function. The current story is being written by the current leader and the implication is that they have put in place methods to pass their history on when members pass away as well as adding new members to keep their group at its full strength of five. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this first installment and have high hopes for future books in the series.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

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