A Display of Death

Helen Binney Mysteries, Book 6

By: Gin Jones

Narrated by: Lisa Valdini

Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling author Gin Jones comes the latest Helen Binney adventure about a feisty woman in a murderous situation....

Determined to live her best life, Helen Binney heads to a patient conference to learn more about overcoming the challenges of lupus. But instead of medical answers, what she finds is a dead body! The murdered doctor was killed beneath a poster display promoting a newly developed treatment - one that has both grateful patients and outspoken critics.

Luckily Helen's handsome ex-lawyer boyfriend, Tate, is along for the ride - and what was supposed to be a romantic weekend getaway after the conference ended. With romance on hold, and Helen under suspicion by the police, it's up to her and Tate to ferret out a killer among a slew of likely suspects who had an axe to grind with the doctor, including an intrusive photographer, a rival doctor, and a lawyer who was working to get the victim's medical license revoked. With everyone a suspect and no one safe, Helen is in danger of becoming part of another display of death!

©2019 Gin Jones (P)2019 Gin Jones

Medical Conferences Are Murder

Helen and Tate plan a weekend in Boston. She’ll attend a medical event on lupus and he will go to wood making events. After Helen finds a dead body it gets hairy. But while they are there their relationship may progress. Recommend

Helen empowers herself and finds another body

In A Display of Death by Gin Jones, Helen Binney goes to her first ever conference on lupus, a disease that has affected her life to varying degrees over the course of the series. She makes several new patient friends, including Talitha, who has been a regular at lupus events for ten years, and Sean Murphy, a teenager eager to talk to Dr. Julie Wen, one of the expert doctors, in order to perform a complicated science project on his disease. At the conference, Helen learns about the problem of doctors who peddle snake oil cures to desperate patients, in particular Dr. Dean Briscoe, who is notorious for offering a new fake cure each year.

Because the conference caters more to doctors than patients, Helen makes plans with her new friend Talitha to sneak into the doctors' sessions. She begins by sneaking into the room full of posters about research, which she had not been allowed to spend much time viewing. But in that room, Helen comes upon the body of Dr. Briscoe, who has sold his last fake cure. Helen gets involved in the case, affecting her and Tate's plans for their first romantic getaway. But the always good natured Tate stands by Helen despite his constant claims that he will not bail her out of jail if she gets arrested. Together, they create a memorable weekend of both detecting and taking their budding relationship to a new level.

A Display of Death is the sixth book in the Helen Binney Mystery series, and it is probably my favorite so far. I really enjoyed getting to see Helen take charge of her lupus and empower herself in coping with her disease by gaining a greater understanding of the illness. To someone without a serious chronic condition, Helen's inability to get straight answers may seem that she has failed in her quest, but as a chronic pain patient myself, I have come to recognize that just gaining as complete a knowledge as possible about my condition has given me a degree of control over my life. So I appreciated seeing Helen assert herself over her illness. The plot about the death of the quack adds to the interest of the plot.

One of the strengths of this series is the drawing of the characters. Helen has a round character that connects us to her and makes us empathize with her throughout her life. We feel that we will certainly know her if we run into her on the street. I especially liked seeing Helen develop a relationship with Tate, showing that even the disabled can find love. The banter back and forth between the pair is fun to connect to as well.

The audio edition of this book is performed by Lisa Valdini, who has narrated the whole series and has crafted creative voices for each character. In this book full of diversity, Valdini does not stereotype the characters as she performs each.

I really enjoyed getting to listen to A Display of Death. Sadly, it looks likely that this will be the last book in the series, as I have come to love Helen Binney and all her friends. The book concludes on a positive note that can be treated as a conclusion but leaves things open for the addition of future books if the opportunity arises for Jones to write more. I hope we do get to read more books and give this five stars.

Disclaimer: I was given this book for free for review purposes, but that had no effect on the content of my review.