Who She Was

 In this blog post, I reviewed Braylee Parkinson's Who She Was, the first installment in the Sylvia Wilcox mysteries series. This captivating mystery debut will keep you guessing right to the end. For Sylvia Wilcox, she's a young widow and a former cop, who received her first mystery case to solve a two-year-old unsolved murder of Liza Stark as a private investigator when her husband Carson Stark asked her to investigate into the mystery behind it. With her brother-in-law Martin working by her side, they delved into her background as a wife and mother and unraveled the threads of her past. Who could've killed her in the poorest neighborhood in Detroit and why? Was it her best friend? Her family and in-laws? Or someone unbeknown to them since the DPD believed it was an affair gone wrong? The deepest they dug closer to the truth, the most suspects they had to believe it could be as they separate the truth between the secrets and the lies. In the end, they pieced the together the puzzle with the biggest surprising twist of them all to receive closure to the case.

 This mystery debut had me on tenterhooks from start to finish, starting with page one. I instantly cared for Sylvia, who mourned her late husband Derek, so young into their marriage. I also liked how she worked well with Martin to help solve the case. The more I've gotten to know about Liza and her sordid past, the more I've felt sorry for her and what she'd gone through in the end before her untimely death in the most cruelest way. This pulled at my heart strings. I loved the scenic settings in Brightmoor and Northville Township, and in Detroit. It also showed how well it depicted how poor and rich both neighborhoods were in Michigan from the slums to a lavish lifestyle for the locations. The theme of the story is how well perceived we think and treat others.

If you love nail-biting mysteries that leave you hooked with non-stop suspense, plenty of gripping drama, and goosebumps to keep you up at night, check out Who She Was for a feel-good read.