Title/Author: Two Heads are Deader Than One (Eddie Shoes Mystery)
by Elena Hartwell
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Camel Press
Date of publish: April 2017
Pages: 286
Private Investigator Eddie Shoes is enjoying a rare period of calm. She’s less lonely now that Chava, her card-counting mom from Vegas, is sharing her home. She also has a new companion, Franklin, a giant dog of curious ancestry.
Hoping for a lucrative new case, Eddie instead finds herself taking on a less promising client: her best friend from her childhood in Spokane. Dakota has turned up in Bellingham in jail, where she is being held on a weapons charge. Eddie reluctantly agrees not only to lend her friend money for bail but to also investigate who is stalking her. Soon after Dakota is freed, she disappears again, leaving Eddie to answer to the local cops, including her ex-boyfriend Chance Parker. Has Dakota been kidnapped? If not, why did she jump bail? What are Eddie’s business cards doing on the bodies of two murder victims?
…the author does a great job of weaving details and people together making a ‘Who Dun It’ that mystery lovers will want to read!
~The Journey Back
Eddie’s witty no-nonsense personality and Hartwell’s well-paced writing style make the chapters fly by. This book is a buy.
~Readeropolis
Don’t miss this intense story that grabs your attention from the very beginning .
~Texas Book-aholic
This story will definitely keep you keep you guessing right up until the twist you won’t see coming at the end. Eddie Shoes is a PI in Bellingham WA. She lives with her mom Chava and is never far from Franklin her monster cream puff of a dog. She reluctantly takes on a stalking case when a her high school best friend, Dakota calls her out of the deep blue to be bailed out of jail on weapons charge. The case becomes slightly more interesting when Eddie and Franklin turn up a dead body at the sketchy tarot card place across from Eddies’s office that may have a connection to Dakota. Dakota’s story begins unraveling almost from the start, followed by a series of seeming unrelated attacks, break-ins and another dead body. All the clues lead back to Eddie and with the police breathing down her neck, Eddie must head back to her home town town to see why Dakota and a long buried secret may hold the key to the mystery.
This was a great mystery from the get go, packed full of interesting characters. Eddie and her mom make a great team and for once the first person narrative, usually a turn off for me, kept the story moving on a steady burn. What was most remarkable for me though was the interesting presentation of mental health issues. The author’s writing style gave me a modern Mikey Spillane vibe and was quite enjoyable from beginning to end.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
After twenty years in the theater, Elena Hartwell turned her dramatic skills to fiction. Her first novel, One Dead, Two to Go introduces Eddie Shoes, private eye. Called “the most fun detective since Richard Castle stumbled into the 12th precinct,” by author Peter Clines, I’DTale Magazine stated, “this quirky combination of a mother-daughter reunion turned crime-fighting duo will captivate readers.”
In addition to her work as a novelist, Elena teaches playwriting at Bellevue College and tours the country to lead writing workshops.
When she’s not writing or teaching, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Radar, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, and their trio of cats, Jackson, Coal Train, and Luna, aka, “the other cat upstairs.” Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
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One Dead , Two to Go ( An Eddie Shoes Mystery )
Eddie Shoes is a private investigator in Bellingham Washington. She enjoys her coffee (as any good Washingtonian does) as she works through her case case load of dead beat parents, back ground checks, and the occasional cheating husband. It is the latter that causes all kinds of mystery (misery?) for Eddie when an easy stakeout leading to proof of her latest client’s husband’s adultery that should lead to an easy paycheck, instead leads to murder, mayhem and the mob.
The story is perfectly balanced between the mysteries of the dead mistress, the disappearing wife and the arrival of Eddie’s card sharp mother who has recently been exiled from Las Vegas (and who seems to be settling in for very long stay). Add into the mix an surprise ex beau who is now Bellingham’s newest homicide detective and there is just enough tension to up the suspense to exquisite levels. Wonderfully layered characters and a twisty plot make for a great read and anticipation for a terrific series to come
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review
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