All the Best Lies: A Mystery
Ellery Hathaway Book 3
by Joanna Schaffhausen
The highly anticipated third novel in the award-winning Ellery Hathaway mystery series.
FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother's killer is uncomfortably close to home.
FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother's killer is uncomfortably close to home.
Unable to trust his family with the details of his personal investigation, Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them. She's eager to skip town, too, because her own father, who abandoned her years ago, is suddenly desperate to get back in contact. He also has a secret that could change her life forever, if Ellery will let him close enough to hear it.
Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer—one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn't about to give up now.
Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ellery and Reed are back, and this time, the case is personal for Reed. Technically, All the Best Lies is a police procedural, except this pair doesn't exactly follow procedure. Whatever their methods, it makes for an entertaining and exciting read. In addition to the suspense of the case, the connection between Ellery and Reed increases. Now, here's where I'll say that technically, this book can be read as a standalone, but in order to get the full impact of the dynamic between these two, I would recommend reading the books in order. There's been a lot of push and pull between our main characters with good reason, but the chemistry has grown despite their hesitance. So, I suppose this one is a little procedural and a little romantic suspense, and Schaffhausen brings it all together in spectacular fashion in this third Ellery Hathaway book. The romance isn't the hearts and flowers of a traditional love story, but the feelings between Reed and Ellery come through loud and clear, and it's impossible not to root for them. The suspense in this one revolves around the murder of Reed's mother, and the author gives us a fair amount of red herrings to consider as things progress. In the end, I guessed some of the answers, but it kept me in the dark enough to keep the pages turning at a good clip. All in all, this is a good addition to the series, and the conclusion was perfect for these characters. I don't know if there is another book planned for the series, but I certainly hope so as I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to these characters.
❃❃ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press
Ellery and Reed are back, and this time, the case is personal for Reed. Technically, All the Best Lies is a police procedural, except this pair doesn't exactly follow procedure. Whatever their methods, it makes for an entertaining and exciting read. In addition to the suspense of the case, the connection between Ellery and Reed increases. Now, here's where I'll say that technically, this book can be read as a standalone, but in order to get the full impact of the dynamic between these two, I would recommend reading the books in order. There's been a lot of push and pull between our main characters with good reason, but the chemistry has grown despite their hesitance. So, I suppose this one is a little procedural and a little romantic suspense, and Schaffhausen brings it all together in spectacular fashion in this third Ellery Hathaway book. The romance isn't the hearts and flowers of a traditional love story, but the feelings between Reed and Ellery come through loud and clear, and it's impossible not to root for them. The suspense in this one revolves around the murder of Reed's mother, and the author gives us a fair amount of red herrings to consider as things progress. In the end, I guessed some of the answers, but it kept me in the dark enough to keep the pages turning at a good clip. All in all, this is a good addition to the series, and the conclusion was perfect for these characters. I don't know if there is another book planned for the series, but I certainly hope so as I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to these characters.
❃❃ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press
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