All the Pretty Dresses

Steven J.
Clarke
Genre: 
Mystery

Beautiful women adorned in elegant gowns prove to be a gruesome find in the small town of Summersville. Someone is torturing them for a month before putting them out of their misery and posing them post-mortem. Cass Rosier, the town Sheriff, and her friend Sam Martin, ex-New York divorce lawyer, put their lifelong friendship and professional skills to the test to find the serial killer they suspect lives among them. 

Readers can be assured of some nail-biting moments. The killer is the worst kind, the friendly neighbor, a person of trust with an insatiable hunger to destroy more women. Cass and Sam have a tight bond. At times the dialogue between them is on the cheesy side, but when they get down to business Mr. Clark knows how to put a story into fast forward. It’s unfortunate that the killer’s identity is revealed so early in the story. Until the halfway mark, the reader is wrapped up in second guessing who the “Freak” could be. Although there’s still an urge to read quickly approaching the action ending, the mystery loses its edge. There are some issues with editing. Is it Halverson or Halvorson? They’re both in the same paragraph and scattered about. The side story of Sam’s ex-husband adds spice, the bitter on your tongue kind, and a secondary villain.

"All The Pretty Dresses" is good start to a budding mystery series. There’s no doubt one will be checking to make sure one’s door is locked before going to bed after reading this one!

Sloane Austen