A Fatal Fiction was an enjoyable read and the characters were very realistic. The story moved along well it just felt like there should have been a few more clues sprinkled in.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Don’t mess with Mikki Lincoln. She may be 70, she may be a freelance editor, she may be a retired teacher, but if you push her, she will use her words to tell you just what she thinks of you. That’s what happened to Greg Onslow, CEO of Mongaup Valley Ventures, when he confronted Mikki at the gas station. He accused her of blocking his construction project, and she told him in no uncertain words just what she thought of his unfounded accusations.

Mikki doesn’t lose her temper like that often, but when she does, it’s worthy of being recorded on a cell phone and uploaded to the internet. And when Onslow ends up murdered that next day, thanks to the popular internet clip of Mikki yelling at him, she becomes one of the top suspects.

This is not Mikki’s first rodeo. She’s helped out with an investigation or two already, so while the police don’t take her anger at Onslow too seriously, she takes her involvement seriously and wants to find any information she can to clear her name. Onslow wasn’t an ethical businessman, so there were plenty of other suspects.

There’s always the wife as a possibility, or the man she left for Onslow. There are those he bilked out of investments, including Mikki’s good friend Darlene and her husband. There is the woman that Onslow left for the woman he married. And there is Mikki’s client Sunny, whose memoir about her family’s hotel in the Catskill mountains has the potential to stop his current construction project. If the land where that hotel stood somehow becomes a historic landmark, his plans for the land crumble before him, possibly bankrupting him. Which is what brought on the argument with Mikki in the first place.

As Mikki makes her list and checks it twice, she finds more family and friends on there than she’s comfortable with. But with writing and with investigating murder, the truth matters more than blood, and Mikki is relentless with her red pencil and fact-checking. But will she be able to figure out the ending to this story before the killer decides to edit her?

Kaitlyn Dunnett is back with her third installment of the Deadly Edits mystery series, A Fatal Fiction. This is another tightly written cozy about freelance editor Mikki and her small New York town of Lenape Hollow. I admit that I am especially critical of a book about an editor, and with these I am not disappointed. A Fatal Fiction includes some of the information about the Borscht Belt, the resorts in the Catskills where the comedians and singers would come to perform every year, and I especially enjoyed that part of the book. But the book as a whole is a very satisfying story, a solid mystery with characters who are starting to feel like old friends.

Egalleys for A Fatal Fiction were provided by Kensington Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

A Fatal Fiction is the third book in Kaitlyn Dunnett’s Deadly Edits mystery series. The books in this series can be read as standalones since good background information is provided, and each book contains its own solved mystery. The characters are well developed, and there are some and twists and turns and no shortage of suspects to keep the reader guessing.

Mikki Lincoln is a widowed, retired English teacher, who, at seventy-years-old, is back in Lenape Hollow, New York, and living in her childhood home with her Calico cat, Calpurnia. When she moved two years ago, she realized the repairs the house needed was extensive and decided to supplement her retirement income by becoming a freelance editor. Sunny Feldman, who is writing a memoir of happenings at Feldman’s Catskill Resort Hotel, hires Mikki to edit the book. Greg Onslow, the CEO of Mongaup Valley Ventures, the current owner of the now rundown property, believes the book will derange their project, which is scheduled for demolition. When Greg Onslow’s body is found on the property, Mikki becomes Detective Brightwell’s prime suspect because of a recent public confrontation between her and the victim that was videotaped. Mikki decides to investigate, and while she knew he’d spent most of his life swindling people, she discovers that there are a lot of suspects. Mikki learns that her cousin, Luke Darbee, was romantically involved with Giselle Onslow, the victim’s widow, and is on Detective Brightwell’s radar as well. Mikki is a confident woman, who doesn’t need anyone watching over her, but after seeing the video, her sister-in-law, Allie, she becomes worried about her and sends her nephew, Nick Carpenter, to check on her.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

A Fatal Fiction was a really fun read! I found the main character, Mikki to be quite engaging. Mikki is a retired school teacher who lives with her Calico cat, Calpurnia. Mikki is serious about solving the murder in this mystery. However, I found myself chuckling over Mikki’s plans and schemes. It’s how she physically carried them out that was both dangerous, yet hilarious!

I thoroughly enjoyed A Fatal Fiction which is the third book in the Deadly Edits mystery series written by Kaitlyn Dunnett.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp for a copy of A Fatal Fiction in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 3 of the Deadly Edits series. While a great stand alone book, there are many references to the previous books and if you didn't read them, they might be confusing.

The story revolves around 70 year old Mikki Lincoln who edits books to supplement her pension. This time she is editing the memoirs of Roberta "Sunny" Feldman. That is when she isn't defending herself from being a murder suspect after a very public fight with Greg Onslow went viral. She's also busy compiling lists of possible suspects on her own.

The best character in the book has to be Calpurnia (Cal) her cat who has a knack for being underfoot at all times.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this story mainly because it is about a person my own age who does edits on manuscripts. I, too, am doing that for friends. So I felt a connection to the main character, Mikki. The author gives hints throughout the book on who the murderer was, but I didn't guess who it was. The book is an easy read with a few "big words" thrown in for good measure. I especially enjoyed. the last section entitled "A Random Selection from 'The Write Right Wright's Language and Grammar Tips'" by Mikki Lincoln. Mikki had written this book and it contains very interesting tips on grammar.

This was a cute cozy. Mikki freelances as an editor when she chooses to work. She is a retired English teacher. She has been hired to edit Sunny Feldman's book at a resort her family used to own. Greg Onslow has purchased the property and he doesn't like the idea of Sunny's book. He accosts Mikki at the gas station and starts an argument. Mikki takes him down a notch and it is all caught on video. Now the video has gone viral.

When Greg is found murdered, Mikki is suspect number 1. It seems someone is trying to frame her. This means Mikki must find the murderer before she or some other innocent is charged.

I enjoyed the story, Mikki is a hoot and sharp as well. There were many suspects and some twists. This was easy to read, but I didn't figure out the murderer until the end. Great fun.

This is the 3rd release in the new "Deadly Edits" mystery series by cozy author Kaitlyn Dunnett. I have read the previous books in the series and highly recommend this series. My review opinions are my own. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

In this third in series our intrepid protagonist freelance book editor Mikki Lincoln who has been hired to help edit a memoir by a last living owner of a once popular historic Catskill resort. The resort is scheduled for demolition. After Mikki arrives she is seen arguing with a man who is then found dead on the site. As primary suspect number one she must work to clear her name and get to the bottom of why he was murdered and by whom. As she finds clues amid red herrings she soon finds that much simmers beneath the surface and history of the old resort .

I enjoy this series for our smart savvy Mikki and the well crafted sleuthing. The supporting characters are likable and all add to the plot. The location of a Catskill resort was perfect for this next in series for a summer read I look forward to the next in series.

On The Wrong Side Of The Law.....
The third in the Deadly Edits Mystery series and Mikki, freelance editor and sometime amateur sleuth, finds herself on the wrong side of the law for all the wrong reasons. Entertaining and enjoyable, this is a fun cosy mystery with a likeable protagonist, a colourful cast of supporting characters and a delightful backdrop. Engaging escapism.

3.5/5.0 🌟

’Freelance book editor Mikki Lincoln knows the makings of a well-written story. But she’ll need to choose her words wisely when a new assignment introduces a deadly plot twist . . .’

Widower, retired school teacher now book editor, modern-day amateur detective Mikki Lincoln, the main character in A FATAL FICTION (Book Three in the Deadly Edits Series), is slightly similar to that of Jessica Fletcher, the leading role in MURDER SHE WROTE. I haven’t watched that show in years that I admit I was addicted to back in the ’80s and ’90s.

I had no idea the television series was made into a book series until earlier this year! Yesssssss!!!

Sorry, I was having a moment, back to the review...

*ahem*

Mikki is a feisty seventy-something-year old who’s not afraid to speak her mind. I have to say I like and dislike that about her as do many of the characters in the book who find her a bit nosy, which gets her into some trouble.

There’s one part in the book wherein Mikki appears to have physical abilities like that of a twenty-something, to which I blurted outloud, ’No way she did that!’ Then I thought about my parents…who are seventy-somethings…who only a couple of years ago went on a Zip-line in the mountains and Quad racing in the Nevada desert…Nuff said.

There is one part of the book that I wasn’t able to suspend belief, and that’s the end, only because it’s that moment that leads to and reveals the who-done-it that just didn’t work, at least not for me.

Will I read more books by Kaitlyn Dunnett? Most definitely! Next up will be Book One in the Deadliest Edits Series, CRIME & PUNCTUATION.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corp., for loaning me an eBook of A FATAL FICTION in exchange for an honest review.

Mikki is excited about her new assignment, she has been asked to edit a quite revealing memoir by Sunny Feldman. Sunny is the last of her family, a family who owned the once illustrious Feldman's Catskill Resort Hotel. In it's time it was a popular destination for tourist but now it is getting ready to be demolished. It's soon back on the map when the body of Greg Onslow is found in the demolition site. To make matters worse Mikki seems to be the top suspect, you see the two didn't get all and had been seen arguing or that long ago. Mikki soon learns that Greg was even more corrupt than she thought all sorts of bad dealings are coming to light. Now she must figure out who among all those dealings.wanted the man dead. Follow along as Mikki does her best to keep herself out of jail and in.doing so find the real killer!

Miki LIncoln has recently moved back to her home town after retiring from teaching. She runs an editing business from her home, and as a result, she is confronted by the town's big developer at the gas station about a book she's editing for an heiress. They have a big argument and the next morning, Miki learns that he's dead. The book follows the investigation which seems to be focusing on Miki when a video of their argument goes viral on the internet. I'd say this is a "typical" cozy mystery. I didn't find anything unique about it, but it's not a bad storyline. The characters were fairly well-developed, but Miki's cat seems to really be just a possession, with no real participation in her life. I'd like to see her become more of the story.

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Mikki Lincoln is a retired school teacher, who is a freelance editor to supplement her income, but will her newest assignment be her last? When she’s hired by Sunny Feldman to edit her history of the once-famous Feldman’s Catskill Resort Hotel, little does Mikki know what Sunny’s memoir is about to dredge up…and the crime that will ensue. The about-to-be-torn-down resort is back in the spotlight, and when Greg Onslow, the businessman developing the site of the doomed resort, is found dead at the demolition site, the hunt for his killer is on.

Unfortunately, Mikki was witnessed having an animated disagreement with Greg shortly before his corpse is discovered, and she’s top on the suspects list of the police. She not only finds herself defending her behavior, but searching for the real killer. But Lenape Hollow seems to have a plethora of potential culprits given Greg’s duplicitous ways, and Mikki encounters plenty of false clues and dead ends as she works to clear her name. But who will the guilty party turn out to be? A friend? A family member? A stranger?

Ms. Dunnett has created a community of interesting characters in Lenape Hollow with a mystery that offers lots of twists and turns for the reader. A Fatal Fiction is the third in the Deadly Edits series.

A FATAL FICTION is the third book in the Deadly Edits cozy series. I enjoyed this book as a stand alone without having read the first two books and still really enjoyed the fun and mysterious story line.

In this book, Mikki Lincoln is working on a memoir by Sunny Feldman – out in a small town of Lenape Hallow where Feldman’s Catskill Resort Hotel is awaiting demolition – and of course, now the spotlight is on the Hotel, on Mikki and the dead body.

I enjoyed the writing very much especially with a great main character – an older feisty woman who seems to get into heaps of trouble but great enough to get out of it.

This was really a fun read I enjoyed a lot. I am now in search for the first two books.

A Fatal Fiction
Deadly Edits #3
Kaitlyn Dunnett
Kensington Books, June 2020
ISBN 978-1-4967-2686-5
Hardcover

A derelict Catskills resort hotel is brought back to life, in a manner of speaking, when a body is found and freelance editor Mikki Lincoln is the logical suspect or, at least, the first one. Mikki had been seen arguing with Greg Onslow not long before and Onslow was not the nicest man around. Known as a shady developer, he had defrauded quite a few people and any one of them could have had enough of the guy so Mikki just has to figure out which one to keep herself out of the clutches of the law.

This was my introduction to Mikki and I reallyfeisty as they come like her. She’s 70 years old and as clever and active as anyone could hope to be at that age (certainly more active than me) and she has the personality to go along with having been a teacher—no putting up with nonsense, that’s for sure. She does seem to be a bit cantankerous but she’s earned the privilege if you ask me. As for the dead man, he was afraid a forthcoming memoir that Mikki is editing would damage his plans for the hotel, precipitating the argument, but Mikki will ferret out the killer. Maybe someday Mikki will find a way to get rid of her interfering nephew 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, July 2020.

Mikki is a Septuagenarian with a big personality! I particularly enjoyed herself-knowledge and sense of humour.

She’s retired to her home town and edits books for additional income. It’s in assisting a client with her biography that she ends up in a confrontation with a very unpopular local business man (who shortly thereafter becomes the victim). The scene is set for her to become a suspect and an investigator!

What a lovely and interesting cast of characters. A cozy murder mystery this story had plenty of suspects and twists and turns. I guessed the culprit but it did not detract from the journey.

Whilst this book is a part of a series it was the first one I have read and I found it most enjoyable.

With thanks to #NetGalley, Kensington Books and the author for my free advanced reader copy to review in exchange for an honest opinion.

A Fatal Fiction is the terrific third instalment in a new-to-me cosy mystery series, called 'Deadly Edits', by author Kaitlyn Dunnett. This is the first I have read by her and I found the book to be an extremely fun read.

I loved the setting, in this instalment, of Lenape Hollow, a delightful sounding tourist resort in its heyday, so imaginatively depicted by the author. Septuagenarian and part-time freelance book editor Mikki Lincoln has made a great life for herself and her tortoiseshell cat, named Calpurnia. Mikki is filling up her car at the service station when she has a run in with the wealthy entrepreneur Greg Olsen. But then the business tycoon is found dead and Mikki, along with her cousin Luke, are the primary suspects so Mikki must convince the local police detective of their innocence.

A full cast of interesting characters complemented the feisty, rather bossy, retired school teacher, Mikki, though not everyone was as they seemed. The plot was strong and the comfortably paced, puzzling mystery kept me guessing. I enjoyed reading A Fatal Fiction and I am already anticipating another trip to Lenape Hollow and getting to know all of the characters to a greater degree. If you adore a fantastic cosy mystery with lashings of family conflicts and community quintessence, don't miss out on A Fatal Fiction.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request from Kensington Books via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

Wish I'm like the main character, Mikki when I am 70. She's now 70 and a real crackerjack. She’s the type of woman most women would want to be once they hit their 70’s. She’s witty, works part-time as an editor, active - can jump down from her roof to the ground (7 foot drop) without serious injury, plus she has a great cat, a calico named Calpurnia. Definitely will keep up with this series.

A Fatal Fiction by Kaitlyn Dunnett is a mysterious tale of gold-digging, opportunity, and revenge.

Will Mikki find out who killed Onslow before she catches the blame, or is the next one gone?

Mikki Lincoln
Mikki is an older woman, who returns to her home town after the death of her husband. She is living in her childhood home and hanging with her childhood friends. However, to make a little extra money, Mikki is an independent editor for authors of all sorts of publications.

I like Mikki's spunk, independence, and her work ethic. She does what she says that she is going to do, and that is admirable. However, she is not perfect, and it seems that at times she can have quite a temper. Here is a quote from Mikki in A Fatal Fiction:
When I lose control, I really lose control. I don't care who's listening. I yell. I tell the object of my ire exactly what I think of whatever it was that set me off. I'm not proud of this. It's a character flaw, but that's not to say that the tirade is undeserved.

The Mystery
So, the night after Mikki tells off Onslow in front of quite a few people, he is murdered. Of course, Mikki is questioned about his death, especially since a video of Mikki giving Onslow the what for is released on the internet. However, Mikki isn't the only person that is questioned as many people in town didn't like Mr. Onslow. One of the suspects is Luke, a cousin of Mikki's that is relatively new to town.

As Mikki is trying to clear herself and Luke, her nephew from her husband's side is in town to assess his aunt's mental facilities and protect her. Although Mikki isn't happy about this addition, she respects her nephew and plays along.

Four Stars
I enjoyed the mystery, characters, and the location (Catskills mountain town, New York). I would like to hear more of Sunny's stories from her youth. The mystery is excellently written, as I immediately thought it was the culprit but dismissed the person due to a lack of motive. However, the way that was revealed was ingenious. Therefore, I am giving A Fatal Fiction by Kaitlyn Dunnett four stars. I recommend this book to all cozy mystery lovers out there.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of A Fatal Fiction by Kaitlyn Dunnett.

This Guest Review is for Baroness' Book Trove.

Until the next time,
~Jen

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