Emily Winter, ace investigative reporter for local station WSMP-TV and hardworking heroine of Hamlin’s first two thrillers, arrives on the scene to tackle the crime (along with today’s hot button issues of abortion and women’s rights). Demonstrators from Right to Life Chicago have been picketing the Clinic for weeks and are prime suspects. As Emily digs in to find the killer, readers are treated to a crash course in what it takes to be a modern reporter — from how to recognize a lead and follow up on it; who to interview, what questions to ask and which not to; plus how to get help from firemen, policemen, city officials and fellow newshounds. Adding to the chase, Emily gets additional help from her gal pals of “The Rules Committee” — a gutsy group of Chicago’s leading professional women intent on breaking the rules hindering women in the workplace. And along the way Hamlin provides an intimate tour of Chicago hangouts, bistros, bars and boulevards. This is a quick page turning read.

Killer Cocktail is the third book in the Emily WInter Ace Reporter Mysteries.

In this story, Chicago TV reporter Emily is drawn into a not so easy investigation. A women's health clinic is destroyed and one person dies.

Even though she is faced with obstacles, in the end, she figures out the mystery of Killer Cocktail.

Highly recommend this book if you enjoy a really good mystery.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Chicago TV reporter Emily Winter is covering a story on a local women's health clinic. Someone decides to take protest too far and they firebomb the clinic. Emily starts researching and trying to figure out who could have bombed the clinic. She keeps hitting stone walls, but someone is trying to make her job harder and starting to attack her.

Will the case be solved in time before another hit is taken on her again?

4.75 stars

This is the third book in the Emily Winter Ace Reporter Mystery series by David M. Hamlin.

This book really grabs you. I wouldn’t exactly call it a cozy mystery but it does have many things in common with it. This is an investigative reporter type of mystery along the lines of what I think of as detective fiction or police procedural.

This takes place in the past, 1975-ish time period. That explains why the reporter calls from a pay phone at some point in the book. I was like… are those even around any more. I guess at that point in my reading of the novel I was unaware of the period of the piece. This reads like a novel from today. I guess reporting the story doesn’t really change over time and a lot of the tv cameras haven’t changed much over the years either.

I wouldn’t exactly call this writing hard-nosed but it seems a bit tougher than your normal cozy type mystery, more real feeling. I really enjoyed the read. I look forward to reading the previous two books in this series. The mystery her was spot on and the characters both minor and major were a thing of beauty. Loved it a lot.

I highly recommend this series so much.

If you like reporter type of mysteries, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

reporter, TV-film-industry, law-enforcement, lawyers, murder, murder-investigation, firebombing, Chicago*****

Molotov cocktails, that is.
When a highly charged and highly publicized protest turns to firebombing, murder happens. Emily Winter is a reporter at WSMP-TV, one of Chicago's TV news channels who investigates stories at her superior's direction and also deals with a lot of sexism both in the work place and on the job. She was investigating the protests and made friends, so she definitely put everything into investigating the murder. Not her usual investigation and law enforcement is stymied as well. Well done! It kept me up late reading to the end.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Open Books Press via NetGalley. Thank you!