The Deadline Murders by Ron Morgans

 

I am not really a big fan of mystery novels.

I find that a lot of mystery authors kind of move their characters around, try to surprise us with red herrings or twists in the plot that aren’t really twists as we can see right through them. The other problem mystery novels have is that they’re boring. I just flat out can’t read most of them.

There are a few mystery authors that I do like however: Agatha Christie, Minette Walters, Mo Hayder. I know that when I see their name on the cover of a book I can (usually) expect a great read from them.

However: Ron Morgans blows them all out of the water. Really, he does.

The Deadline Murders is the freshest and most fun mystery I have read in years. It’s heroine, Henrietta Fox, is a paparazzo, a celebrity photographer. She’s tall, lean and has flaming red hair to match her Irish temper. At the beginning of The Deadline Murders, she’s pissed that she’s at the Farnborough Air Show instead of photographing some sort of celebrity mess up.

That all changes when a plane, a prototype Sumxu military transport plane from China nosedives and crashes, bursting into flames. Henrietta captures this all on film, not realizing that she has just started events in motion that could mean her death.

She teams up with newspaper reporter Cass Farraday and, as the two begin to dig further into events, they realize that five reporters have each been murdered and Henrietta might just be the next in line…

This is an absolutely wonderful mystery. If you read one good book this summer, make sure it’s this one. The Deadline Murders is fresh, funny, fast and furious. It hooks you from page one and doesn’t let go.

I can’t wait to read the other books in the series.