Book Review | Death at the Asylum by N A Granger

Death at the Asylum is the fifth in the Rhe Brewster series by Noelle Granger, and every bit as good as the previous three. I seem to have missed Death in a Mudflat, which is mighty strange. Apologies, Noelle 🙂

Death at the Asylum

by N A Granger

Attending the opening of a new commercial center, Rhe Brewster, an ER nurse and police investigator, and her husband Sam, chief of the Pequod police department, save the governor of Maine from a sniper attack. They are assigned to a task force to find the sniper, at the same time trying to identify the person who has stolen Rhe’s personal data and is using it to run up thousands of dollars in debt and even steal their home. Rhe treats a student from Pequod University raped following a night at a local bar and soon discovers there is a serial rapist on the loose. The threats to Rhe and Sam escalate as a sociopath from Rhe’s past reemerges in a strange twist. Are any of these perpetrators linked?
Maine’s most tenacious sleuth is back, surrounded by the colorful characters who populate the coastal town of Pequod. In this fifth installment of the Rhe Brewster Mysteries, Rhe’s strength and determination are tested to their limits while she tries to protect her unborn child. [goodreads]

My Review

Settling in to read a cosy mystery with characters you know and love is very good for one’s soul. In the case of Rhe Brewster and her husband Sam, plus all their friends, its is even better. But truly what Rhe goes through in this book is way beyond the scope of most bodies to cope with.

As it happened, I had just been notified of a possible data breach in my pension account. This resulted in a free year on a security check-up system (Experian Identity Plus) funded by same pension account. I don’t know what Noelle has been through in the way of identity theft. What she put Rhe through scared me silly but possible, if you don’t nip it in the bud early.

And then there’s her boss, who we have met before, and is still out to get her. And the cross-over between her nursing care, including rape referral services, and her police work… including screening possible rapists….

So to be very lcose to a target of a sniper at the opening of the asylum, is child’s play. But that it leads to screening possible snipers. That’s where we find out how much Rhe has to do with guns in her role with the police….

And did I mention she’s pregnant?

Somehow, it all spins together logically, coherently, and with a great command of tension, reveals and ramping up the odds. Noelle Granger writes a great suspenseful mystery in Death at the Asylum. She makes it very hard to put down for longer than absolutely necessary. It’s a thrilling story, brilliantly put together, and full of the atmosphere of the region (Maine). My only quibble is that the death wasn’t actually at the asylum, but it’s a great title, so who cares?