Fate Deals The Cards - (Stella Kirk Mysteries) by L P Suzanne Atkinson (Paperback)

About the Book

Life has a way of sorting itself out. Call it karma or call it chance, but in the end, you must play the cards you're dealt.

Book Synopsis

Stella Kirk and Detective Aiden North face complications related to friendships, buried secrets, and childhood trauma in their quest to discover the killer. Personal issues cloud the landscape, family ties prove weaker than assumed, and Stella faces the concept of feeling humiliated even when no one else is aware. The lives of others are never as we expect.

Review Quotes

Canadian Authors Evaluation 2024

Fate Deals The Cards: A Stella Kirk Mystery # 6 offers the reader a murder mystery that follows a bit of an overlap between a cozy mystery and detective procedural, employing the principal character as a police consultant. There is also a set of relationship plots, continuing from previous books in the series.

Fate Deals the Cards offers the sixth in a series of 1980s adventures with Stella Kirk, following her investigation of a murder in a small apartment complex. Kirk attempts to dissect the complex lies of multiple suspects to identify a killer, as she and her friends navigate relationship challenges. New readers will find a solid murder puzzle, and fans of the series can continue to follow the characters' progress through their interesting but accessibly realistic lives.

The characters are robust and entirely credible without stereotypes or cliché. A possible concern is that readers who have not read any previous books in the series might benefit from starting with the first volume, as the ensemble have history that might be unexplained. Alternatively, some of that history could be recovered through brief exposition in the current volume. The list of characters at the front did help.

Locations and time frames are very well conveyed. A literal blueprint of the building on the back cover was very helpful for readers to visualize the crime scene, and several chapters were titled with the dates. Individual locations had visual descriptions that oriented readers appropriately.

Solid writing and grammatically correct. The style is appropriate for this genre, assisting the reader's progression through the various plots without drawing attention to the prose. The author weaves a bit of narrative into the dialog tags in a sophisticated way.

Notably without clichés or 1982 sensitive anachronisms which demonstrates some mastery and attention.

It's hard to guess themes in genre, but this volume involves a couple of relationships that are experiencing feelings around abandoning a family member in the interest of self preservation. A mother who estranged from her son; a husband who has lost hope in his wife's recovery from mental illness. Mature Nick experiencing adolescent-level jealousy and imagined rejection. Tough topics respectfully explored. Noir-ish.

This book is professionally edited and laid out. Cover art is consistent with the previous works in the series and aligned with genre expectations. Apartment floor plan on the back cover art was an interesting feature, again aligned with genre and reminiscent of many popular cozy mystery classics.