A Field Guide to Death and Deceit by Michelle L. Cullen

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit
by Michelle L. Cullen

ISBN-13: 9798892426794
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Released: September 15, 2026

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
When an odd request leads Harry Lancaster to agree to meet his childhood sweetheart Willow at a farm on the outskirts of town, Emma’s suspicions run high, and she insists on joining him. Instead of Willow greeting them when they arrive, they discover the farm's owner dead, with a corn rake embedded in his back.

After being interrogated by the police, Harry and Emma return to his home to find a bereft Willow, who admits she lost her life savings in a real estate scam involving the farm. Worried that Willow will become the main murder suspect, Harry decides to help her, despite Emma’s concerns.

To bring the swindlers—and murderer—to justice, Harry recruits his potentially shady, financial-whiz brother and a neighborhood teenage hacker. As Harry, Emma, and team unearth clues, they increasingly dodge the police, stalkers, and danger in their race to save Willow before anyone else turns up dead.


My Review:
A Field Guide to Death and Deceit was a clue-based mystery, but it quickly shifted from trying to uncover the murderer to trying to con the con group to get enough evidence to stop them. Emma was rather reckless, doing unnecessary, dangerous things to find information or carry the con. Like getting into a car with a man who might be a murderer and was certainly a con artist. Of course, she's grabbed as a hostage at the end and everyone converging for the rescue/getaway revealed whodunit rather than the clues.

The characters were likable. Harry's a good amateur detective because he used his life experience in observing people and discovering what motivated them along with his skill in leading people in casual conversation to provide the information he desired. There were only a few uses of bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable mystery.


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.