Another great book; a transitional story in this long-term mystery series

Dead Ringer (A Mattie Winston Mystery Book 11)

By: Annelise Ryan

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a series that I started mid-way through and had no problems picking it up. I did go back and read a couple of the first books as well. Having said all of that, I believe that this book is more transitional and it would be helpful to read some of the earlier books first. You can read it stand-alone but some of the nuances of the relationships might be better understood with a background of the storyline.

Mattie is medicolegal death investigator (medical examiner) who assists the forensic pathologist in figuring out cause of death. In her case, she is also responsible for assisting the police with forensic evidence found at the scene if a crime has been committed.

Mattie teams up often with her husband, Steve, who is a homicide detective. In this story, she doesn’t work with him as much as previous books. She is more or less out there on her own and it proves to be a serious issue.

There are personal things going on that take her mind off her job. Because of that, she misses clues and puts herself in danger.

The crime she is investigating brings in a police force and crew from another city and those individuals are less than happy that she is getting involved. How she works around that and what it means for her safety is a major part of this story.

As I said, there are personal issues going on and while they don’t involve the crime, they still take a good portion of the book to resolve. It is because of this, that I suggest reading earlier books. The mystery, in and of itself, is completely contained in this story and is a great whodunnit with lost of twists, turns and red herrings.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.