9 Squares

9 Squares (Mystery)

By E.K. Prescott

ISBN #978-1589852549

Five Star Sleuths

296 Pages

Price $12.96

Rating 4-Stars

“Interesting Concept”

When two young ladies discover a skeleton on the beach in 1923, a web of mystery unravels near Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.  Maize Judson, a young girl studying to be an investigative journalist assist Professor Detective Richard Wikki, formerly of Scotland Yard to investigate the strange case. It has more hidden secrets than either can imagine.

This had an interesting concept, but was dry and read more like a classroom writing assignment. The author goes into too much detail describing minor things, forgetting the mystery. Even though we get lots of description of each character, and what they are wearing, they still fail to come alive. Phrases don’t always tally with the time period, and at times I had to wonder if the author really knew much about automobiles of the period.

I considered giving the book a lower rating, but since this is the author’s first novel, I wanted to give her a passing grade regardless of the problems. The setting is definitely interesting, and the mystery a good concept. If the author will forget the history lesson and put away her PhD for the next volume of this series, she will write a better, and more entertaining novel. And that’s what readers want.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories