Dollycas's Thoughts

Death by Pool Cue! You don't see that every day. But that is the case medicolegal investigator, Mattie Winston and her husband Detective Steve Hurley are tasked with. Prominent Realtor, Montgomery “Monty” Dixon has been taken down by someone he had to have known. Was it his wife, Summer? His son, Sawyer? His twin brother? A disgruntled employee? A client not happy with their real estate deal? Or was someone else trying to get Dead Even? Hurley and Mattie are hot on the case as they juggle their hectic home life. Will Mattie catch the killer? Or will she be the next victim?

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I love this series and these characters.

The author has created such fantastic genuine characters. Mattie has grown leaps and bounds over these 12 books. She is still the same clutzy self she has been since Book 1 and I love that. She has always made me laugh out loud and is truly my favorite fictional character of all time. Hurley is her perfect man. They have worked through so much over the years and always come out stronger. Their son Matthew is such a cool kid. He immediately stole my heart. His big sister Emily has been through some tough things but has emerged as such a strong young woman. Dom and Iggy are the best supporting characters. They always have Mattie's back. Her sister, Desi, and her husband Lucien keep things interesting, especially with the girl's Dad back in town and Lucien representing the suspects in Mattie's cases.

Again, Ms. Ryan has wrapped her characters in a complicated mystery with a lot of moving parts. Mattie knows all the suspects are lying and she just keeps tugging one thread after another while Hurley works the case on his end. I love the trust they have in each other. They come up with theories and dig some more. They have no problem bringing suspects into "The Hole" to try to get to the truth. It is so much fun to follow all the breadcrumbs with them right up to the big reveal. I truly was at the edge of my seat. I was so impressed with Mattie. I was cheering and crying. Knowing this is probably the last book in the series, I was afraid about how the book was going to end.

The author uses the final chapter to put a lid on the mystery answering all the questions and presenting the motives and how they snowballed. She also leaves the characters in a very good place. The one thing she doesn't do is slam the door completely shut on future stories. I hope someday down the road Mattie jumps into Annelise's brain and pokes at her a lot to pick up the saga of Mattie and Hurley again. As I said, I love these characters, they are like old friends that I could make a short trip up the highway and visit again and again.

Thank you, Ms. Ryan. I found this series late in the game but once I started I was hooked. I really enjoy the humor you infuse into each story while giving us a fabulous mystery to escape into. I have now read everything you have written as Annelise Ryan and Allyson K. Abbott and am anxiously awaiting the release of Death in the Dark Woods, the second Monster Hunter Mystery. As long as you keep writing I will keep reading!

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Mattie is happy that she and her husband, Hurley, have the weekend off. Although they often work together with her as a medicolegal investigator and he as a detective for the local homicide department, it will be nice to have some time off together to spend with their toddler son and teenage daughter. However, when their town and the surrounding county have a rush on unattended deaths, they are both called into work.

Local real estate broker Montgomery “Monty” Dixon is found dead, stabbed in the chest with a broken pool cue. The is no shortage of suspects including his cheating wife and gambling son. Can Mattie and Hurley solve the case while dealing with toddler meltdowns and trying to hire a housekeeper?

I really like this series. The characters are relatable and fun, the stories are good, and there is enough snark to make it believable! I definitely recommend!

A Mattie Winston Mystery Book 12

Successful Real Estate Agent, Montgomery Dixon is found dead with a broken pool cue sticking out of his chest. Mattie Winston, a Medicolegal Death Investigator, and her husband, Steve Hurley, a homicide detective, work together to find out who was responsible for Monty’s death.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I loved it! The book is well written with great descriptions of people, places, scenery, and crime scene procedures. It was an easy read, not too technical, but had a great vocabulary. I loved the husband/wife team. Mattie and Steve were full of imperfections, but their relationship was solid. I really connected with them, their family, and friends. I loved how they flirted with each other. I felt like I was reading a crime tv show. I would highly recommend this book to mystery enthusiasts!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

A Balance..
The twelfth Mattie Winston mystery, Wisconsin set. When a local realtor is found dead, a high profile investigation begins and Mattie tries to balance her life from all sides. Engaging and enjoyable with an amenable protagonist in Mattie, a deftly drawn cast of supporting characters and a solid puzzle at heart.

I have loved this series from the start, while not as funny as the series used to be its still one of my favorites. I did however guess the killer long before the big revel, but loved the book anyway. My main issue with the book has been Steve. He has been kind of a jerk IMO in the past few books. Still, I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one.

I love this authors Mattie series! Such likeable characters...so real! I have read all so far and they are on my automatic purchase list!... love this character!

I love this series and this book was just as good as the rest of the series. It's a series that skirts the line of a cozy mystery but still stays in that category. I really love Mattie as a main character. She's so real and so imperfect in a great way that I always enjoy these books. This mystery was well done with just enough details and twists to really keep you guessing the whole story. I am already looking forward to the next book so here's hoping it's not too long of a wait!

Dead Even
Mattie Winston, Book, #12
Annelise Ryan
5 Stars

Synopsis:

In Sorenson, Wisconsin, a local bigshot is found with a pool cue through the heart—and Mattie Winston must untangle a web of lies to sink a killer . . .

In her previous career as a nurse, Mattie Winston’s job was to keep death at bay. Now, as a medicolegal investigator, she’s required to study death intimately—to figure out causes and timing, and help deduce whether it was natural or suspicious.

In the case of Montgomery “Monty” Dixon, a well-to-do Realtor, there can be little doubt: Broken pool cues do not embed themselves. Monty’s body is found in the game room of his lavish house, the walls adorned with photos of Monty and various celebrities. But as Mattie and husband Steve Hurley, a homicide detective, both know, money and connections can’t protect anyone from a killer.

The first suspect is Monty’s wife, Summer, who claims to have been at a cooking class at the time. When that alibi is served up as a fake, Summer moves to the top of the suspects list, but is soon joined by Monty’s ne’er-do-well son, Sawyer, who has racked up gambling debts he hoped his dad would pay off. Monty’s twin brother is engaging in shady financial deals. An affair, a Ponzi scheme, a disputed inheritance . . . there are as many motives as suspects, and soon Mattie and Hurley have turned up other, possibly related deaths.

Balancing a high-profile case with the demands of their increasingly stressful household isn’t easy. It’ll take all of Mattie’s skill—along with a lucky break or two—to stop a killer from racking up another victim. (Goodreads)

Review:

Whenever I read a book by this author I know that I am in for a real treat. I know that there will be suspense and family, and it will be a good book.

The characters are well rounded and well developed. Mattie and Steve are great partners, both in life, parenting and crime solving. They respect each other, care about each other and will do anything for each other. The secondary characters add a lot to the story and are all very good friends to Mattie and Steve. They added a lot of humor to the story and a lot more depth.

The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and the book is a quick easy read. These descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning and I was taken on an intriguing ride. There was plenty of action and tension and I really liked that.

I would highly recommend this book (and series) to anyone who enjoys a well plotted mystery. I think the books just keep getting better.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, and NetGalley.

In this twelfth instalment in the Mattie Winston Mysteries series by Annelise Ryan, the reader follows Mattie's life as a medicolegal investigator in her recent marriage to police detective Steve Hurley with her toddler son Matthew and Steve's teenage daughter, Emily. Mattie is supposed to be enjoying her night off but she and Hurley are called to an upmarket neighbourhood in Sorenson, Wisconsin where they find Montgomery, "Monty" Dixon, impaled upon a pool cue at his sprawling ranch, his blood spreading all around him and beginning to seep into the floor.

I picked up this series with Dead of Winter (book 10) and I really enjoyed this book, Dead Even not wanting to put it down. I really enjoyed the well fleshed out characters and the plot as Mattie and Hurley sifted through a host of possible suspects from the victim's rich family whilst they juggled their domestic lives.

Mattie is curious, formidable, and very determined in her approach and the diverse supporting characters were a hit for me as well; the reader is certainly treated to well-crafted characters. Annelise Ryan clearly loves to incorporate humour into her writing which I greatly appreciated. The pacing is rapid and there were many twists and surprises woven throughout. Whilst the storyline builds upon the previous books, the novel can easily be enjoyed as an individual read. I strongly recommend this book/ series to mystery readers and I'm aiming to read the first in the series, Working Stiff as well as revisiting Mattie in book thirteen.

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

Dead Even is the 12th book in the Mattie Winston procedural series by Annelise Ryan. Released 30th March 2021 by Kensington, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a very well put together forensic procedural murder mystery with a solid ensemble cast including a medicolegal investigator and her husband who is a local homicide detective. They're working together to solve the murder of a businessman and real estate developer who is found with the jagged end of a pool cue stuck in him.

I enjoyed a lot of things with this mystery. Main character Mattie is unapologetic about who she is and she's competent, intelligent, and formidable (both in height and singularity of purpose). The dialogue is well written and natural. I found the first person narrative took a little getting used to, but once I got over that, the story flowed very well.

Although this story worked well enough as a standalone, there are a lot of spoilers for earlier books in the series, and I would recommend readers who intend to seek out the earlier books do so in order for the sake of continuity.

Very well done. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Wisconsin, law-enforcement, lawyers, murder, murder-investigation, small-town, forensics, forensic-medicine, due-diligence, family-dynamics****

Not an unbiased review: I live in Wisconsin, and have a similar job history to main character. Use of present tense very disconcerting much of the time, other than that, I loved the way the mystery played out! The two main characters are beyond overbooked in their personal and professional lives and the current investigations are not only unusual but filled with more than the usual liars.
Complex characters that many of us could have met and interacted with, solid plot with misdirections, twists, and outright red herrings all add up to a very fine read. No spoilers here.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Death Examiner Mattie Winston is looking for a quiet weekend off with her husband, Detective Steve Hurley, and their small son, Matthew. However, people are dropping like flies in Sorenson, WI, and the surrounding area. Most of the deaths are not suspicious, but the sheer number stresses the small police department. Mattie and Hurley are called to an upscale neighborhood, where they find Montgomery, "Monty" Dixon, impaled upon a pool cue. The much younger wife, Summer, is the first suspect. Summer is hardly a distraught widow, especially when she finds that her realtor husband is flat broke rather than being well-off. Then, Monty's son, Sawyer, is saddled with large gambling debts to some very unsavory people. To round up the suspect pool, Monty's twin brother is a shady businessman with financial troubles of his own.

As they are deeply involved in the case a domestic difficulty ratchets up to a real friction point between Hurley and Mattie. Juggling a busy work life, trying to manage her son and household chores is getting to be a problem for Mattie, despite help from family and friends. They are interviewing candidates for a part-time housekeeper but Hurley is resistant to having a stranger in the house. The parade of possible employees provides the humor that this series is known for. Hurley and Mattie manage to solve the case without blowing up either their house or their marriage.

I can hardly believe that this is the twelfth book in this series. All the characters, supporting and main, have evolved naturally, and keep the series fresh. I enjoy the wealth of forensic detail included in each book. Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

This is the 12th in this popular series "Mattie Winston" by cozy author Annelise Ryan. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

Our protagonist Mattie is a medical investigator studying death and its causes. She is a master at finding clues that lead to suspects. She solves crimes with her husband a detective. In this next mystery a wealthy resident is murdered with a pool cue. As Matter proceeds through the plethora of suspects in the victims rich family she finds many motives for murder that eventually lead them to the killer.

I enjoy this series for the charcters and the sleuthing. Mattie is a likable, focused investigator and I enjoy how the author crafts the sleuth with red herrings to keep the reader guessing. I did not guess the ending and was pleasingly surprised. This is a enjoyable next in series.

Dead Evan by Annelise Ryan is the 12th book in the Mattie Winston series, and another terrific addition. Mattie is an investigator for medical coroner in Wisconsin and her husband Detective Steve Hurley is a homicide detective and they work cases together. They live with their son, Matthew, a toddler, and Steve's teenage daughter, Emily, in their brand new home. In this book, Mattie and Steve are trying to solve the murder of a well to do Realtor who was killed in his home. I loved this book and did not want to put it down. There is so many story lines going on, you just want to keep reading to see what happens next. I really enjoy the well developed characters, and story line. This book also has great humor, which I always enjoy. Mattie and Steve are real people with real issues, and I love how they love and know each other. Please keep them coming. I strongly recommend this book/ series for any mystery readers.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dead Even by Annelise Ryan (Mattie Winston #12) 4 stars

Mattie Winston, a medicolegal death investigator in Sorenson, Wisconsin is called out to attend the death of Montgomery Dixon. Mr. Dixon, a successful real estate agent is discovered in his home with a broken cue stick in his chest. Mattie is tasked with recording the crime scene, gathering physical evidence and prepping the body for transport to the morgue. She and primary investigator, Steve Hurley will have to figure out who had motive, means and opportunity to kill Montgomery Dixon.

This is the 12th book in the series and the first one that I have read. I found this book to be well written. The investigative process was mapped out and fair to the reader. I initially thought that this was a cozy mystery, but this is a little more action packed and scary than what I would consider a traditional cozy. Since I haven't read any other books in the series, I feel as if I came into the story late when it comes to the characters and their relationships. However, I felt that it did not detract from the structure of the the mystery. I enjoyed reading it and want to try reading some of the previous books.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

Mattie Winston is back in her 12th adventure as a medicolegal investigator in Wisconsin juggling her job, homicide detective husband and a toddler. While the mystery is quite satisfying the joy of the series is in the relationships and characters. Highly recommended.

Someone really really didn't like real estate agent Montgomery Dixon- and they put a pool cue through his heart to prove it. Mattie Winston, a medico-legal investigator and her husband Detective Steve Hurley find themselves sorting through a pack of possible suspects even as they juggle their personal life. Cozy fans knows that the most obvious villain is not the killer and Ryan has a knack for keeping it twisty. I'm a fan of this series (and this latest will be fine as a standalone) because of the interaction between Mattie and Steve. There's a lot of pressure with any blended family and that's the case here as well. Mattie has a good sense of humor and a dogged determination to get to the truth, especially when she, and her family, are threatened. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read for cozy fans.

4.75 stars

This is the twelfth book in the Mattie Winston series by Annelise Ryan.

This story was really interesting. Mattie has quite an interesting career as a medical investigator of the dead after having been a nurse for many years. Her husband, Steve, is a homicide detective with the police department. They have a couple of kids, a teenager and a toddler. I can’t imagine how they both make that work on a daily basis much less when a murder invades and puts more responsibility on their plate.

I think my favorite scene in the whole book is one that takes place in a grocery store where a woman standing in line ahead of her has too many items for the express lane. Talk about a karma moment right there. It is the little things like that which makes this book such a standout.

The whole mystery was just clever. There were so many facets beyond the normal mystery plotline that occurred here. It seemed so simple. A guy gets stabbed with a broken pool cue. Looked very open and shut just like a few other deaths that happened that same night that others handled. Then when Mattie gets involved, she gets to the nitty gritty uncovering the iceberg of everything hiding beneath the surface.

Such a good story. Just so much to love about this series I can’t get enough.
The one draw back I see is that the cover doesn't do this book justice. I actually bought a paperback of book nine. I gave it away before I even read it due to the cover turning me off. Now I wish I had that book back. Coincidently, I bought a number of books on my kindle in this series right after finishing it.

Highly recommended. Excellent book!

If you like cozy mysteries, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

I have read and enjoyed every book in this series and this is another exciting addition. I enjoy the way the author has developed the lives of the characters, their strengths and imperfections as well as their family dynamics. The main character Mattie Winston is a medicolegal death investigator. She is married to homicide detective Steve Hurley and their immediate family includes his teen daughter and their toddler son Matthew (who is a hoot). They don’t realize that the wealthy man who was murdered with a pool cue is the beginning of a twisted mystery involving greed and family dynamics. If you like a series where many of the characters, as their lives evolve, continue through the books then this is for you. The investigation is thorough as Mattie & Steve bounce ideas off of each other to find the killer. You could read this as a standalone as the author provides enough back story that you won’t feel lost, but you would miss out on the continuing characters and the other great books. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Dead Even: A Mattie Winston Mystery
By Annelise Ryan
Kensington
March 30, 2021

Review by Cynthia Chow

Once an ER nurse with the mission to do everything she could to prevent death, Mattie Winston now chases death as Sorenson, Wisconsin’s death investigator. Working for the town medical examiner, Mattie helps police gather crime scene evidence off of the bodies who may not have met their ends naturally. It’s an unusual situation of her home and work lives often meeting, as her new husband Steve Hurley happens to be a homicide detective. They have both been called to the home of real estate agent mogul Montgomery Dixon, whose death would be notable enough even if he hadn’t been impaled by a pool cue. His less-than-mournful second wife Summer is more upset by having to change clothes and temporarily move out than she is about her husband’s corpse, and she has a lot of revisions to make to her initial alibi statements. Even more disturbing is the arrival of Montgomery’s identical twin brother Harrison, an attorney whose genetic makeup will make gathering DNA evidence a nightmare.

Family life continues to intrude on Mattie when they discover that Montgomery’s financial attorney and Summer’s defense attorney is Mattie’s brother-in-law Lucien Colter. A rabid lawyer whose questionable choice in clients always infuriates Hurley, Mattie tolerates him as a good father and husband to her sister. That’s fortunate as Lucien lands himself another client in the form of Montgomery’s son Sawyer, who was recently heard wishing his father dead in order to gain an early inheritance. As they soon learn, Sawyer had an impressive gambling addiction that landed him in debt. It’s an addiction that Mattie can relate to having and struggles to control, making it one of the reasons she continues to meet with a therapist. The other reasons for Mattie and Hurley regular marriage counseling sessions are Mattie’s questions over motherhood, ones that led to betrayal of trusts on both sides. When not juggling a toddler son who gives himself a haircut, interviewing housekeepers despite an extremely suspicious detective husband, and attempting to forge a relationship with her very estranged father, Mattie will impressively use her medical knowledge and cleverness to put together the clues to catch a ruthless killer. She’s definitely going to need the bullet-proof windows, steel reinforced, run-flat tires that her loving husband had customized for her hearse to keep her safe.

Mattie has changed and grown so much throughout these twelve books in the series, allowing readers to become just as invested in her life as in the murder investigations themselves. While the details of death investigations are undoubtedly fascinating and morbid, it’s seeing Mattie’s struggles to find happiness that has always been the real attraction. From her first appearance as an Operating Room nurse and cheated-upon wife, Mattie has become a mediocoloegal death investigator, married a (better) man, gained a step-daughter, and become a mother. She’s found a father she thought dead, formed a detente with her hypochondriac mother, and even set her up with the perfect man. The path to this stage in Mattie’s life has always been bumpy and full of danger, but her sense of humor and perseverance has made it a joy for both her and readers. Every year this series tops my favorite reads of the year, and 2021 looks to be the same. Dark humor, relatable family drama, and the extraordinarily compelling investigation by a death investigator make this another must-read for everyone who loves mystery and intrigue.