The hook:
A beautiful aspiring actress is found dead, missing one shoe. When the case seems cold, true crime aficionado Laurie Moran teams up once more with charismatic lawyer Alex Buckley to look into the case for her show, Under Suspicion.
My impressions:
While less gripping than “Piece of My Heart,” “The Cinderella Murder” still held my attention for one continuous sitting as I listened to the whole audiobook in one day. I could definitely see the early stages of Clark and Burke’s styles coming together. The plot felt a little less tight than I was expecting, but the fast pace made up for it, and there were plenty of twists along the way to keep me on the edge of my seat.
What I like most about this book is the way it really lets its protagonist shine as a character. Mystery novels are an inherently plot driven genre, focusing the reader’s attention on alluring premises and thrilling twists. With this book, and the Under Suspicion series as a whole, we get a recurring protagonist, Laurie, whom we get to know well as we tag along on her adventures. Her character development feels authentic, and her relationships with the other recurring characters are compelling and draw the reader further into Laurie’s world. I felt like those aspects of the book made me care more whenever Laurie was ever in any peril while solving the case, because as a reader, I was perhaps even more invested in Laurie as a character than I was in the case she was solving, twisty and compelling as it was.
I can definitely say that I would recommend this book and the full series. Laurie and the rest of the Under Suspicion team are not to be missed!
Happy reading!
Kat Pollock 