Dead Ringer By Annelise Ryan A Mattie Winston Mystery Review

I received a digital advanced reader’s copy of Dead Ringer from NetGalley. This review may contain minor spoilers.

Dead Ringer by Annelise Ryan is the 11th Mattie Winston Mystery. Every time I hear another Mattie Winston Mystery is coming out I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. This series is one of my favorites. Like, the Bibliophile Mystery books by Kate Carlisle these books are specific cozies. Not only do our heroines solve murders, but they are specialists in their given field. Which makes the books more believable. Also, these books are hilarious, especially the earlier books in the series. That is why I am mentioning the Bibliophile Mystery books in this review to give you a comparison. And much like the Bibliophile Mystery books, the Mattie Winston books take on a more serious tone as the series progresses. If you have read the Bibliophile Mystery books, you will love the Mattie Winston Mysteries too. 

The previous book Dead of Winter had a hilarious subplot to lighten the tone of the book. Dead Ringer does not, and it needed that. That is ok as some Mattie Winston Mysteries are more serious. This book needed a comical subplot to help counterbalance one of the other plot lines. I loved reading about Mattie and the new murder she has to solve. Maddie is a medicolegal death investigator and helps the police solve murders. In the more recent volumes Mattie lives with her husband Steve Hurley, a police officer. Until this book the subplots involving their marriage offered a nice balance. It is nice to know that our heroine Mattie has a loving and stable relationship. Mattie solves murders and helps others. I want her to be happy. 

However, the subplot in Dead Ringer with Hurley was unsettling. Without giving too much away, I felt Hurleys behavior was uncharacteristic. Hurley crossed boundaries he should not have. I am unsure if I can forgive Hurley as easily as Mattie did. This is my issue with the book. 

In Dead Ringer the murder itself was unique. The murder pattern matches a serial killer who is already prison. This means they have a copycat killer on the loose or an innocent man is behind bars. The killer could be anyone. There was one red herring later in the plot so you had to pay attention. It was kind of obvious the red herring was there to mislead you. 

If you are anything like me, I did not figure out who the killer was until the final plot point. And Mattie ends up in danger again. I am used to this as most cozy heroines end up being in mortal danger at the end of the book. It would be nice if one of the Mattie Winston Mysteries did not end with Mattie in danger. This is typical for the genre. 

Overall, I rated Dead Ranger 4 out of five stars on Goodreads. I could not stand the subplot with Hurley. I knew from the second the subplot began what was happening and it didn’t feel right. It even brought tears to my eyes when Mattie discovered what was going on. Previously I stated this is what I disliked about the book. 

The Mattie Winston Mysteries are good books. I cannot wait for the twelfth book and recommend Dead Ringer despite my gripe about the subplot. It was a real page turner and I could not put it down. It took me about two-and-a-half days to read it. At 336 pages that means I read over a hundred pages a day. That was how gripping this book was. 

Dead Ringer is available on February 25th and I recommend you read it. Especially if you love cozies or true crime novels.