The Lethal List (Katelyn Elms 1) by Fred Tippett II -a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 24, 2021.

MURDER BY SUICIDE?

Seventeen-year-old aspiring reporter Katelyn Elms is saddened and shocked by the sudden suicide of her friend Marnie Overton in her Santa Barbara home. But after the initial police investigation, Katelyn notices multiple inconsistencies that the cops overlooked—and begins to believe that Marnie was actually killed by a clever and elusive murderer.

Prompted by the insistence of Marnie’s young daughter, Katelyn launches her own investigation and quickly uncovers a disturbing number of buried secrets and lies surrounding Marnie’s final days, including mysterious relationships with a shady district attorney and a womanizing and temperamental boss. Stonewalled by a police force determined to look no deeper into Marnie’s case and unwilling to let a child relitigate the matter, Katelyn presses on with the covert assistance of the Police Chief’s son—who also happens to be the one boy whose affections she has silently pursued for the past three years.

But when her efforts turn up a second questionable suicide, a book of suspects, and a motive to kill with dark ties to a massive underground conspiracy, Katelyn finds that she herself is fast becoming a target for premature death.

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REVIEW: THE LETHAL LIST is the first instalment in Fred Tippett’s contemporary, young adult KATELYN ELMS murder/mystery/suspense series focusing on seventeen year old high school student and wannabe investigative journalist Katelyn Elms.

WARNING: Due to the nature of the story line premise there may be triggers for more sensitive readers including murder, prostitution and suspected suicide.

Told from third person perspective (Katelyn) THE LETHAL LIST follows in the aftermath of the apparent suicide of a well loved professor and Katelyn’s friend Marnie Overton. With the insistence of Marnie’s twelve year old daughter Lane, seventeen year old, Katelyn takes up the slack of the local police department and begins an investigation of her own when all clues point to murder but all is not well in Santa Barbara when Katelyn uncovers a possible conspiracy linked to a missing ledger, a high end prostitution ring, and a local businessman with a lecherous reputation. As Katelyn, and the Santa Barbara police chief’s son Sean uncover the clues, the bodies begin to amass with a direct connection to the original ‘murder’.

FRED TIPPETT II pulls the reader into an intriguing and suspenseful Nancy Drew™ style whodunit with a heroine who is able to outwit the local police, and has been granted a free-pass to an ongoing murder investigation, and access to all of the crime scenes within hours of each discovery. For most readers, the suspension of reality will be necessary but for younger teens, placing themselves into the leading roles will result in a more visceral and tangible read.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Fred Tippett, II, is the author of the Young Adult Mystery novels The Women in White and The Lethal List. Fred currently lives in Alabama, though he is a Washington-DC-barred attorney. He holds a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Pennsylvania—and primarily uses his legal education to bolster the credibility of police procedural elements for his novels.

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