Murder by Perfection

Beware! Perfection has a dark side!

Frustrated with their busy schedules, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday attempt to find togetherness by scheduling a weekly date night. The last thing Jessica expected for her date night was a couple’s gourmet cooking course at the Stepford Kitchen Studio, owned by Chef Natalie Stepford–the embodiment of feminine perfection.

When Natalie ends up dead and Murphy goes missing, the Thorny Rose detectives must peel back the layers of Natalie Stepford’s flawless life to discover that perfection has a very sinister dark side. 

Review By The iRead Reviews

“A missing husband, a secret life, black market organ transplants, and drug addiction are the ingredients that make Murder by Perfection by Lauren Carr a smorgasbord of mystery, suspense, and crime drama. Washington, D.C. is the perfect location for this murder mystery that has everything, including several murders, an obsessed fan, and family dysfunction. From the very first scene, readers are thrust into the mysterious disappearance of Jessica Faraday’s husband, Murphy Thornton, a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and a member of the elite team Phantoms. Who would have the knowledge and skills to kidnap this dynamo?  

Jessica and Murphy come from very different worlds – she’s from a rich, well-known mogul’s family and he’s a soldier committed to justice and his country’s freedom. Their lives have gotten even more complicated as she embarks on her own journey as a medical student, which means long hours and textbooks everywhere but little time for anything else. But even as they verbally battle over who was supposed to pick up the dry cleaning or the takeout, they strive to make time for each other and their relationship. These two are lovable, and their problems are those that real couples have.  Unfortunately, one date night, they find themselves in Natalie Stepford’s Kitchen Studio looking for a murderer. Through careful plotting, Carr weaves a web of red herrings and misdirections as our intrepid couple tries to uncover the mystery of who killed Murphy’s former classmate, Commander Ross Caldwell. In order to do that, the team must pull back the layers of Stepford’s perfect life. Despite a few hiccups in scene transitions, Carr’s mystery novel reads like a script and her characters could be spying in the dark alleys of a Hollywood movie set.  Along the way, the investigation takes on a life of its own, leading the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) deeper into a cover-up of black-market organ transplants. Carr’s cast of characters keep the plot moving quickly, but their individual personalities make their interactions genuine and engaging. Add to the mix a know-it-all artificial intelligence system named Nigel, and readers will be hooked.  Murder by Perfection by Lauren Carr mixes the police procedural with the spy game, in much the same way that James Patterson does with his Alex Cross mystery books. Ripping true crime stories from the headlines and weaving her characters into the plotlines, while adding a dash of humor and romance, this highly entertaining and fast-paced Thorny Rose Mystery will have readers seeing the darker side of perfection.”