Bea's Book Nook: Blog Tour Review & Giveaway of Shadow of Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman

Publisher: Henery Press
Series: Carol Childs Mystery #1
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 2, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When a top Hollywood Agent is found poisoned in the bathtub of her home, suspicion quickly turns to one of her two nieces. But Carol Childs, a reporter for a local talk radio station, doesn’t believe it. The suspect is her neighbor and friend, and also her primary source for insider industry news. After a media frenzy pits one niece against the other—and the body count starts to rise—Carol knows she must save her friend from being tried in the court of public opinion.

But even the most seasoned reporter can be surprised, and when a Hollywood psychic shows up in Carol’s studio one night and warns her there will be more deaths, things take an unexpected turn. Suddenly nobody is above suspicion. Carol must challenge both her friendship and the facts, and the only thing she knows for certain is that the killer is still out there. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she’s in.

Bea's Thoughts:

Another new to me author, another new cozy series, and another good book. This time out, our protagonist is a news reporter at a radio station. She's a new hire, on probation, and already running into problems with her boss.

When Carol's next door neighbor and occasional babysitter for her son knocks early on her door morning, asking to use her phone, Carol finds herself dragged into a murder investigation that quickly becomes messy and complicated. There are more deaths and plots and several twists. Carol is a smart woman though with a blind spot where her neighbor Sam is concerned. Sam is arrested for the murder but Carol's so utterly convinced of her innocence that she can't even entertain the possibility of Sam's guilt. While her loyalty was wonderful, her refusal to even consider Sam's possible guilt got to be absurd. Still, while it was annoying, it was also realistic. Who of us might not have a blind concerning a friend or relative? And I'm not saying that Sam was the killer, just that it was annoying that Carol wouldn't even consider the possibility.

The story was well-written and a fast read; I read the whole thing during two nap times at school so a little under four hours. I liked the insider view of Hollywood and a peak behind the scenes at the radio station. Silverman gives us likable characters, an interesting mystery, and enough clues that you just might figure out the mysteries. One I figured out but not until late in the story and the other completely surprised me. I enjoyed reading about Carol, her family, her boyfriend, and her work as a reporter. I empathized with her struggles to establish herself at work and the conflict of interest between her work and her boyfriend's. "Shadow of Doubt" was a solid story and enjoyable. I'll be looking for the next one.

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About Nancy ~

Silverman believes her twenty-five years in radio help her to develop an ear for storytelling. In 2001 she retired from news and copywriting to write fiction fulltime. Much of what she writes she admits is pulled from behind the headlines of actual events that were reported on from some Los Angeles busiest radio newsrooms where she spent the bulk of her career. In the last ten years she has written numerous short stories and novelettes some of which have won awards &/or been picked up for publication. Currently she has three audio books with MindWings Audio. Her first novel, The Centaur’s Promise, was published by Eloquent Press in 2010. In December, Henery Press will roll out the first of Silverman’s new Carol Childs Mysteries, Shadow of Doubt.