Grace Cries Uncle by Julie Hyzy

Grace Cries Uncle by Julie Hyzy ISBN-13: 9780425259689 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: July 7, 2015

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
When Grace Wheaton’s estranged sister Liza shows up on her doorstep, the timing couldn’t be worse. Grace’s beloved boss and benefactor, Bennett Marshfield, has finally gotten her to agree to a DNA test to establish if he is her uncle. If so, Grace would move from being the trusted curator and manager of Marshfield Manor to Bennett’s heir. And her duplicitous sister would be right behind her in the line of inheritance.

Liza is not the only mysterious visitor to arrive in town. A man claiming to be an FBI agent has shown up, and a swarm of avaricious antique collectors have descended on Emberstowne for a prestigious convention. When Bennett reveals he’s in mind to acquire a secret antique and the FBI agent turns up dead, the plot thickens. And Grace can’t help but wonder if Liza is at the center of it all


My Review:
Grace Cries Uncle is a suspense novel. It's the sixth book in a cozy mystery series, but you don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one, and this story didn't spoil the previous mysteries. This series has always had some suspense at the end, but the heroine was focused on solving the murder, so it's a mystery. In this novel, Grace was focused on uncovering a series of mysterious happenings (which include a murder) and making sure that people she cares about didn't end up dead from whatever is going on.

The suspense was partly from relationship tensions--is Bennett a relative? and what is her sister up to now?! But it was also from physical danger and mysterious happenings. There were clues as to what was going on and whodunit. The scenario that I came up with using the clues did turn out to be the correct one, but the author had me wondering if I was right until the final scenes. Though whodunit is solved by whodunit confronting Grace, in this case it was for knowledge that she did have about something whodunit wanted. Grace wasn't stupid. Proof of guilt was acquired in the process. All good.

There was no sex. There was a very minor about of bad language (in this case, the use of "God" as a exclamation). Overall, I'd highly recommend this suspenseful novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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