Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite

It is the first year for fifty-seven-year-old John Crase as a private investigator after retiring from the Spokane Police Department as a police detective. He had left the service, looking for a fresh start from the monotony of death he dealt with. However, one phone call from his former partner, George, drags John back into the thick of it. George tells him that Spokane PD urgently needs his help solving a major murder case, and John agrees. As John joins the investigative team at the crime scene, he is greeted by the sight of a mutilated female body. The department had been investigating the disappearance of women in their early twenties. The pressure mounts when John’s friend reports that his daughter was abducted, has been missing for days, and needs his help finding her. What is going on in Spokane? Find out in Death by Dismemberment by Judy Haar.

If you are looking for a whodunnit blended with mystery, crime, medical intrigue, and suspense, Death by Dismemberment by Judy Haar is a worthy pick. Haar draws readers into the mystery with a tense and chilling introduction. The vivid depictions made me feel as if I were next to the characters in Spokane, closely following their tragedies and discoveries. I could see everything: from the isolated cabin covered in snow in the pine woods, the fisherman’s dilapidated dark brown shack near the Little Spokane River, to the gory interior of the abandoned structure deep in the forest. I could almost feel the cold from Spokane’s extreme winter conditions. Haar reveals the characters’ personalities and emotions through character-driven conversations. I understood John’s reasons for leaving law enforcement, as well as his desire to experience love as a senior bachelor. As he pursues clues and the perpetrator in the current investigation, he must face his fears and accept the responsibilities awaiting him lest more lives are lost. Here, Haar highlights the dark influence of money, power, and unchecked ambition in medicine.