Written Off by Sheila Lowe
Publisher: Suspense Publishing
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full length (254 pgs)
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Aloe
In the dead of winter, handwriting expert Claudia Rose journeys to Maine to retrieve a manuscript about convicted female serial killer, Roxanne Becker. The manuscript, written by Professor Madeleine Maynard, who was, herself, brutally murdered, exposes a shocking secret: explosive research about a group of mentally unstable grad students selected for a special project and dubbed “Maynard’s Maniacs.” Was Madeleine conducting research that was at best, unprofessional—and at worst, downright harmful, and potentially dangerous? Could that unorthodox research have turned deadly?
Claudia finds herself swept up in the mystery of Madeleine’s life—and death. But she soon realizes that Madeleine left behind more questions than answers, and no shortage of suspects. The professor’s personal life yields a number of persons who might have wanted her dead—and her academic success and personal fortune clearly made her the envy of fellow faculty members. The University anticipates being the beneficiary of Madeline’s estate—but that seems in question when a charming stranger, claiming to be Madeleine’s nephew, turns up brandishing a new will.
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When her boss asks her to go to Maine and find the manuscript he was helping write, Claudia is anxious to go. It’ll be a trip out of town (her fiancé is out of town now anyway) and it will be interesting. No one knows where the manuscript is…
This book is part of a series but it stands alone fine. It centers on forensic handwriting. Claudia does this for a living and she’s good at it.
This author draws you in as she explains the facts of the case. The professor writing the manuscript was killed. You have two professors who weren’t fond of her and she was running a private group that including those with mental problems. Trying to weed through who might have done what is difficult.
Just to make it a bit more interesting, the manuscript is about a woman serial killer who is in the local penitentiary. Claudia is curious enough to visit with her and she finds a woman sorrowing over the loss of her children. You begin to wonder if maybe one of these students might have been one of her children…
As Claudia finds herself learning more about the college and the students, she finds faults in almost all of them. Everybody has some but some are more deadly than others. Tempers are short in this world and violence can spring up in an instant.
The suspense is good, the stage is set for the reveal and the killer was not on my list of suspects. One thing about it, the psychologist not only finds out who did what, she also learns something about her own self.
This is a good read that’s hard to put down. If you have any interest in reading handwriting, there’s a lot of good information about that included in the story. You may even have to watch how you write in the future. You’d don’t want anyone to think you’re a psychopath…
