Tag Archives: Pike Wisconsin

The Murder Club (Pike, Wisonsin 5) by Alexandra Ivy -review

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The Murder Club (Pike, Wisonsin 5) by Alexandra Ivy -review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play /Chapters Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 20, 2024

Over the years, small-town Pike, Wisconsin, has seen its share of shady characters, murderers, and serial killers—and not all of them have landed behind bars. For some folks, solving cold cases from the safety of the virtual world is a harmless diversion—but the stakes can be deadly . . .

An online crime-solving group is just the kind of adventure Bailey Evans needs. She loves her nursing career and small-town life, but her days are predictable. Her confidence bolstered by having her sheriff cousin Zac nearby, Bailey’s up for some innocent fun and intrigue. . . . Until she starts receiving unnerving Once the game begins, there’s no backing out of The Murder Club. Then the game gets real . . .

First, Bailey is shut out at work after an elderly patient dies and leaves her a shocking inheritance. Then a priceless necklace from an anonymous source arrives in her mail—along with a bone-chilling threat. Determined not to involve expectant father Zac, Bailey contacts an expert the charming Las Vegas businessman who’s never left her mind . . .

Dom Lucier knows real gems—and Bailey is the most precious thing he’s seen since they met at her best friend’s wedding. Returning to Pike to trace the jewelry’s bloody history, Dom helps Bailey kick open a murderous cold case. But as death and disaster escalate, they’ll need a new strategy to escape a killer who won’t be satisfied until the streets of Pike are soaked in blood . .

•••

REVIEW:THE MURDER CLUB is the fifth instalment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE, WISCONSIN mystery, suspense series . This is pawn shop owner/ television personality Dom Lucier, and registered nurse Bailey Evans’ story line. THE MURDER CLUB can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty . Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary . Bailey is Sheriff Zac Evans’ (UNSTABLE #3) cousin.

Told from omniscient dual third person perspectives (Dom and Bailey) following several intersecting paths, THE MURDER CLUB follows in the wake of the death of a local nursing home resident, a death blamed on our story line heroine. Months earlier Bailey Evans met television personality Dom Lucier at the wedding of mutual friends (Kaden and Lia: Desperate Acts #4), and his arrival in Pike, Wisconsin coincides with Bailey’s life spiralling out of control. Dom Lucier is temporarily living at Kaden’s place in Pike where he will seek out the woman who stole his heart but Pike’s reputation as the murder capital of America is about to push our couple together in more ways than one. Enter Bailey Evans. Bailey is a nurse who loves her clients but the death of a resident, and her subsequent inheritance of several thousand dollars places our heroine at the top of the list when several other items go missing, and the nursing home owner refuses to listen to reason. With the help of Dom, Bailey goes in search of the truth, a search that has more twists and turns the deeper our couple dig into the investigation. With everyone having a motive, and a potential stalker targeting our story line heroine, Dom and Bailey begin an investigation of their own only to discover there are more players and suspects than they could have ever imagined.

The world building is detailed and complex as the number of potential suspects, clues and possible red herrings enter into the investigation. As a former member of an online Murder Club, a group that re-investigates murders and deaths that were never solved, Bailey finds herself in a threatening situation when she refuses to ‘play the game’, a game playing out in Pike, Wisconsin. As the number of victims begin to amass, Bailey and Dom’s search reveals a web of vengeance for sins of the past.

The relationship between Bailey and Dom is one of friendship that will quickly turn into something more. Bailey is in need of protection, and Dom volunteers to guard the woman with whom he is falling in love. There are no $ex scenes , everything is implied.

THE MURDER CLUB is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, jealousy, obsession and murder, friendships and love. The premise is intriguing but not believable on so many levels-in this I struggled to accept the concept of our couple as the principle investigators. The characters are energetic; the romance is limited, but I felt no palpable sexual attraction.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Don’t Look
Faceless
Unstable
Desperate Acts
Redemption 4.5 (Peril Anthology)

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Desperate Acts (Pike, Wisconsin 4) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

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Desperate Acts (Pike, Wisconsin 4) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 21, 2023

WILL SHE FIND THE ANSWER
Teenager Lia Porter shouldn’t have been anywhere near the railroad bridge that night. Sneaking home after a party in the fields outside Pike, Wisconsin, she glimpsed a woman in a leather jacket, running in terror. Lia puts the incident from her mind–until a body is found near the same spot fifteen years later, wearing the same jacket. The police rule it a suicide. Lia knows different. The woman she saw was trying to save her own life, not end it. But whatever she was fleeing from found her first . . .

BEFORE THE KILLER
The stranger who arrives at Lia’s store shares her suspicions. Hollywood stunt driver Kaden Vaughn has come home to Wisconsin to learn the truth about what happened to his brother’s fianc�e years ago. The leather jacket, the timing–he believes the dead woman is Vanna, and that Lia may be the only person who can help. Together they retrace Vanna’s steps, but the more they dig, the darker the secrets become.

FINDS HER?
The killer is still out there, stalking the streets of Pike again, willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the truth locked in mystery. One by one, all those who know something about that night must be silenced, until there is no one left to tell . . .

•••••

REVIEW: DESPERATE ACTS is the fourth instalment in Alexandrea Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE WISCONSIN romantic, suspense series. This is thirty-five year old, former motorcycle stuntman Kaden Vaughn, and thirty year old Lia Porter’s story line. DESPERATE ACTS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from third person perspective DESPERATE ACTS follows in the wake of the discovery of a skeleton. Fifteen years earlier, a then fifteen year old Lia Porter stumbled across a woman in uniform, jumping off the local bridge. Fast forward to present day, and a skeleton has been discovered near the area where the woman had jumped. The local mayor declared the case closed, claiming the woman to be a suicide but Lia knew better, having watched from afar, as the woman ran for her life. Former Hollywood motorcycle stunt driver Kaden Vaughn never thought he would return to Wisconsin but the discovery of a female skeleton pulled Kaden to small town of Pike, where he would meet local grocer Lia Porter, a woman with a vested interested in the town’s discovery. Kaden Vaughn was sure his late brother’s fiance’s body had been found but the more Kaden and Lia began to unravel the secrets and lies, the target on their back, and several residents of Pike, is getting bigger by the day. As the injured and dead begin to accumulate, someone is desperate to keep secret what happened years before including blackmail and a possible connection to the EPA.

The relationship between Kaden and Lia is one of insta-lust to love; a joint venture in searching for the truth. Lia witnessed the victim’s jump to her death, and Kaden suspects the skeleton belongs to his brother’s fiancé. Working towards a mutual outcome, Kaden and Lia are pushed together as desperation forces a confrontation between the present and the past. The lone $ex scene is passionate but mostly implied.

Pike, Wisconsin is a town operated by corruption-from the judge to the mayor to local businessmen, wanna-bees and has beens looking to hide years of crimes. With every interview and investigation, another body is discovered, someone is poisoned, anyone who talked to Lia and Kaden, end up dead or injured. My only concern is the lack of any real law enforcement or FBI involvement. Two people looking for answers solve fifteen years of crime and passion.

DESPERATE ACTS is a tragic story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, murder and mayhem. The premise is intriguing and entertaining; the romance is tender; the characters are spirited and determined.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Don’t Look
Faceless
Unstable

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Unstable (Pike, Wisconsin 3) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

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Unstable (Pike, Wisconsin 3) by Alexandra Ivy-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: April 26, 2022

WHEN IT COMES TO KILLING

A dead man in a cemetery isn’t news—unless he’s found on top of a grave, with a bullet through his head. The body belongs to Jude Henley, who was supposed to be buried below. Instead, the grave contains the remains of Staci Gale, thought to have run away nearly three decades ago. Then an old VCR tape arrives at the sheriff station, showing Staci before her death—bound and terrified—with a note, claiming to be from the killer’s apprentice . . .

PRACTICE

Rachel Fisher’s job in cold case files has brought her back to Pike, Wisconsin—where she’ll be working alongside her ex-husband, Zac Evans. As Pike’s interim sheriff, Zac expected a low-key assignment. Instead, he and Rachel are racing to solve serial murders from decades past while a new monster goads them with a chilling promise. Every week there’ll be another old tape—and a fresh victim . . .

MAKES PERFECT . . .

In this small town a killer walks—twisted, ruthless, determined to continue his master’s work. And unless Rachel and Zac can find a way to get ahead of him, the nightmare will never end.

•••••

REVIEW:UNSTABLE is the third instalment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE, WISCONSIN slightly romantic, suspense thriller series focusing on the people of Pike Wisconsin. This is thirty year old , Pike Wisconsin interim Sheriff Zac Evans, and cold case Detective Rachel Fisher’s story line. UNSTABLE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from first person perspective (the killer) and several third person perspectives UNSTABLE follows in the discovery of a body long thought buried and dead. The identity of the body in the local cemetary reveals the victim was a man thought to have died close to thirty years earlier but the exhumation of his grave exposes the remains of a woman who disappeared years before. Enter cold case Detective Rachel Fisher, interim Sheriff Zac Evan’s ex-wife, and one-half of an investigation team that will expose the resurrection of a possible serial killer. As several local women go missing, and their murders are recorded for posterity, Rachel and Zac struggle to unravel a series of clues that date back close to thirty years, clues that affirm a possible copycat killer in Pike, Wisconsin. With each murder, a new videotape is released, a videotape that may or may not be connected to the current killer or a killer from the past. What ensues is the rebuilding relationship between Zac and Rachel, as our couple begin to suspect a number of residents, as well as one or two of their own. Like many small towns, Pike Wisconsin’s dead refuse to remain silent, and the victims begin to talk from the grave.

Rachel and Evan’s marriage imploded years before but working together pushed our couple to remember what was and what will never be. As the number of missing and murdered women begin to climb, more than one person is suspect, and a long forgotten piece of information reveals a secret that is about to be exposed.

UNSTABLE is a story of murder and abuse, obsession and fixation, history and family, forgiveness and love. The premise is dramatic, intriguing and riveting; the characters are energetic, colorful and curious; the romance is passionate but limited, taking a back seat to the search for a killer.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Don’t Look
Faceless

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Faceless (Pike,Wisconsin 2) by Alexandra Ivy-review

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Faceless (Pike,Wisconsin 2) by Alexandra Ivy-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 24, 2021

BE CAREFUL
A masked robber, a gunshot, an endless nightmare left in its wake. Wynter Moore was just four years-old when she witnessed the murder of her mother. For twenty-five years she’s tried to blunt the trauma with ambition. Yet each year, she shuts down her popular Iowa restaurant to return to her small hometown of Pike, Wisconsin, to grieve. Only this time, her visit will be marked by new danger and shocking discoveries about the past—and about her mother.

WHAT YOU DIG FOR
Why kill her? That’s what scrawled on the picture Pike’s recently deceased sheriff left behind for Wynter. Pulledfrom surveillance tape, it shows the fatal hold-up—and raises unnerving questions. Soon, Wynter is opening a Pandora’s box of dark revelations and suspects. When frightening incidents and threats start coming, it’s clear that Wynter is a target herself. Enemies seem to abound—except for one man . . .

YOU JUST MIGHT GET KILLED
Game warden Noah Hunter has tried to convince himself that Wynter is just a friend ever since they met in grief counseling as teenagers. But now that she’s in danger, that denial is over. Traveling to her side, he helps Wynter retrace the treacherous steps of her complex mother’s life—before she loses her own. Because someone wants—needs—Wynter gone, forever.

••••••

REVIEW:FACELESS is the second instalment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE WISCONSIN romantic, suspense thriller focusing on the people of Pike, Wisconsin. This is thirty-one year old, conservation officer Noah Heller, and twenty-nine year old, restaurant owner Wynter Moore’s story line. FACELESS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from several third person perspectives including Noah and Wynter FACELESS focuses on Noah and Wynter’s search for the truth. Approximately twenty-five years earlier Wynter lost her mother to a fatal shooting, a shooting the police blamed on an armed robbery gone bad. Fast forward to present day wherein Wynter comes into possession of a photograph from that fateful day, pulling our heroine into an investigation of her own but with each so-called witness interview, Wynter and Noah would soon discover, murder followed in their wake. What ensues is the search for the truth, and the fall-out as  someone does not want their secrets revealed.

FACELESS is a Pandora’s box of murder and betrayal, vengeance, secrets and lies; family, relationships, infidelity and trust. As the story line unfolds, the reader is pulled into one family’s not-quite hidden dysfunctional history, a history of which our heroine had not been aware. As Wynter and Noah begin to uncover the secrets of the Pike, Wisconsin, the secrets of the Moore family reveal as complex and sordid past. The premise is intriguing and captivating; the characters are energetic and colorful; the romance is passionate but secondary to the storyline premise.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one DON’T LOOK

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Don’t Look (Pike, Wisconsin 1) by Alexandra Ivy- a review

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Don’t Look (Pike, Wisconsin 1) by Alexandra Ivy- a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 1, 2020

IF YOU’RE ON HIS LIST
A woman’s naked body is discovered, cold and pale as the surrounding snow–except for the crimson scarf around her neck. The weeks that follow bring more victims and evidence of a terrifying pattern. The killer has a list. And every woman on it will get what she deserves . . .

YOU’RE AS GOOD
Dr. Lynne Gale followed in her father’s footsteps to become a vet in Pike, Wisconsin. For years, she’s had little contact with Kir Jansen, son of the town’s late sheriff. Suddenly he’s back, insisting that Lynne’s in danger. She can’t believe anyone would target her, but someone is hunting the women of Pike, savoring every last moment.

AS DEAD
Kir hoped that his father’s frantic calls about a serial killer were just an old man’s delusions. But the body count doesn’t lie. In this quiet town, a monster stalks and kills. And soon, Lynne’s will be the last name on his list . . .

•••••••

REVIEW: DON’T LOOK is the first instalment in Alexandra Ivy’s contemporary, adult PIKE, WISCONSIN romantic, suspense, thriller series focusing on the people of Pike, Wisconsin.

Told from several third person perspectives DON’T LOOK follows businessman Kir Jansen, on his return to his hometown of Pike Wisconsin in the aftermath of his father’s death. As the former Sheriff, Rudolph Jansen was a well-respected man but a gun shot to the head left Rudolph a shadow of his former self leading to a life of heavy drinking. The possibility of serial killer in Pike Wisconsin had Rudolph struggling to get anyone to believe but a drunk with fantastic stories about threatening letters and motive, is still a drunk.

Kir Jansen knew about the mysterious letters his father received but it wasn’t until Kir returned to Pike Wisconsin did the killer begin to up his body count. Meeting local veterinarian and former school mate Dr. Lynne Gale stirred something deep within our story line hero but a list of potential victims included the woman with whom Kir would fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Kir and Lynne, as the couple begin an investigation of their own when local law enforcement failed to do what needed to be done.

DON’T LOOK is a story of betrayal and revenge; of desperation, murder, obsession and hate. Lynne and Kir began to piece together a list of possible motives, motives that would connect back a number of years. As the body count increases, our couple become suspect, as they followed the cues that the new sheriff ignored. The premise is intriguing; the romance is passionate; the $ex scenes are mostly implied; the characters are colorful, and energetic but saying that I struggled with the couple’s ability to gather information when law enforcement claimed they had no leads or ideas. The story line is edgy and dramatic but you will have to suspend reality as Kir and Lynne solve a cast that no one else was able

Copy supplied by Negalley

reviewed by Sandy

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