Wheel of Death

A Mystery by 22 Authors

By: Patricia Rockwell

Narrated by: John Tanner

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

When Glory Lockhart is prodded into going on a blind date by her friend Connie, no one could have predicted the strange and terrifying turn of events that would take place when her gentleman caller Tom Rankin takes her for a romantic ride on a Ferris wheel at a county fair.

But when the wheel returns to the ground, Glory finds Tom dead - shot in the back. Immediately, questions course through Glory’s mind - why was Tom killed and who killed him? She had barely met this man, but now, she feels connected to him in the most permanent and horrible way possible.

As the widow of a former local police officer, Glory’s head is soon humming with plans to solve the mystery surrounding this man and his gruesome demise on the wheel of death. Wheel of Death is the second group-written mystery from the authors at Cozy Cat Press.

Each author wrote one chapter and then sent the manuscript to the second author, and so on and so forth until the last author put the finishing touches on the book. No author had any idea where the book would go once they sent it on its way, and all of us were surprised at the ending. We are a very close-knit group of authors which allows us to produce such a book. We are proud of our efforts and believe this is a humdinger of a mystery.

©2018 Bart J. Gilbertson, Rae Sanders, Annie Irvin, Jennifer Vido, Laura Shea, Emma Pivato, Joyce Oroz, Christian Belz, T'Gracie and Joe Reese, Trisha Durrant, Owen Magruder, David Selcer, Zaida Alfaro, Karen Shughart, Lane Buckman, Carmen Will, Leslie Stansfield, Julie Seedorf, Lorrie Holmgren, Elizabeth Jukes, Patricia Rockwell (P)2020 Bart J. Gilbertson, Rae Sanders, Annie Irvin, Jennifer Vido, Laura Shea, Emma Pivato, Joyce Oroz, Christian Belz, T'Gracie and Joe Reese, Trisha Durrant, Owen Magruder, David Selcer, Zaida Alfaro, Karen Shughart, Lane Buckman, Carmen Will, Leslie Stansfield, Julie Seedorf, Lorrie Holmgren, Elizabeth Jukes, Patricia Rockwell

Blind Date Gone Wrong!

When Glory Lockhart agrees to go on a blind date set up by her best friend, she never expects the evening to end with her date shot to death while they are enjoying a Ferris Wheel ride. I think that you will be very surprised by the ending, I know I was. This excellent mystery is written seamlessly by 22 authors, as you listen to how smoothly the story progresses it is hard to believe that each chapter was written by a different author. The book is narrated by John Tanner who does an excellent job with the story flow and character’s voices, overall a very enjoyable listen.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

4/5 StarsWheel of Death: A Mystery by 22 Authors

Narrated by John Tanner
Summary:

A blind date gone very wrong sucks Glory Lockhart into a twisty cozy-ish mystery as told by 22 different authors.

Additional Comments:

- This must have been one heck of a project to edit. I’m guessing Patricia Rockwell had the outline and doled out assignments. There seemed to be a master plan.

- While unique, stories aren’t told this way for a reason. There are pros and cons to having 22 authors playing in the same sandbox. Pros: It’s unique. It’s fun. It’s challenging. Cons: Every author has their own voice when they write (the way they choose to describe things). While nothing glaring jumped out, it’s hard to nail down a consistent voice when you have so many people involved. In other words, there’s a very high potential the story will strike you as disjointed.

- John Tanner’s performance was excellent. I’m sort of wondering why the Rights Holder chose a man when the MC is a woman, but it’s not a huge deal since it wasn’t first person perspective.

- The story itself has a few twists. I finished it a while ago and forgot to review at that time, so I don’t remember them anyway. Good for you because you shall not get spoilers from me.

- I remember the conclusion being a tad anticlimactic, but that’s a nit I have with the entire cozy genre.

Conclusion:

Check out the sample and see if it resonates with you. Sometimes, a nice performance can make all the difference.
*I received a free copy and have chosen to review it. All thoughts are my own.

Great Cozy Mystery for a Rainy Day

Wheel of Death is a unique take on the mystery genre. Though the title may be a little on the nose, the cover designed for this novel is beautiful and eye-catching. The premise of the book is interesting, but what makes this book stand out is that it's authored by twenty-two different people.

In this novel, the main character Glory Lockhart goes on a blind date with Tom Rankin to the county fair. They have a good time and go for a romantic ride on the Ferris wheel, only for their ride to end with Glory's date dead from a gunshot wound to the back. It is from this moment that Glory falls into a world she never knew existed, and she makes many unsettling revelations in her hunt to find out who killed Tom Rankin and now threatens her family.

Going into this novel, I wasn't convinced that a novel with 22 different authors could have the consistency and planning needed for a great mystery novel. To my pleasant surprise, I found that while each chapter had a different author, they all flowed together with a consistent narrative style. While listening to this book, I forgot that there were so many authors at some points, and I was never taken out of the story by any abrupt shifts in the narrative style.

For the most part, the story had a logical progression of events, which is incredibly vital to any great mystery. I will admit that at some points, I found myself having a little trouble keeping up with all of the twists and turns near the end of the novel. While all the twists made sense after I thought about it for a long time, the complicated and intricate web of this novel took me out of the story at times when I had to stop and put the pieces together in my mind.

As far as characters go, Glory Lockhart is a well-rounded person that I was able to connect with, and the cast of characters around her felt full of life. My only big critique is about the antagonists. They did not feel as fleshed out as they should have, and that took away from the impact of their reveal towards the end of the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience with the novel despite some bumps in the road, and the narrator kept me entertained with his wonderful performance. The story was complex and engaging, and I enjoyed following Glory on her sleuthing adventure. Grab a warm blanket, light a candle, sit back, and enjoy a nice, cozy mystery.

Very cool idea

I really didn't think that 22 different authors could put together such an awesome mystery book. I really enjoyed listening to this. I think that knowing that every chapter was written by a different author made this a lot more fun. This must have been so much fun to write! I would love to read/listen to more of these. Very cool!! I am a fan! <3

Didn't keep me engaged...

This was an ok story I suppose, but I couldn't help but feel rather bored by it and even zoned out a few times. It didn't hold my attention as much as I like books to.

This book was provided to me free of charge at my request in exchange for my honest reviw.