A reader can count on Deaver to deliver an engrossing story. This short story let’s a history professor discover more about his wife, after her death. The plot was decisive and the reading went fast. It’s a nice fill in until his next full length book comes out.

This is the first book I have read from Jeffery Deaver. I found this short story hard to get into but I sticked with it to the end. I will definitely try reading a longer book of his to see if I get in better with it. I felt like there was lot going on due to it being a short story and just got bit lost at times but I can imagine for Jeffery Deaver fans this is really good read . Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

I've read many of the Lincoln Rhymes novels, but this the first short story I've read by Jeffery Deaver. It was a great read. The pacing was a little fast, but it fit with the whirlwind of events the main character when through. I would love to see this turned into a full length novel.

Jeffery Deaver's 2021 release novella Cause of Death is an entertaining read.
While the shorter form necessitates a more concentrated plot and less opportunity for developing characters and setting, Deaver skilfully draws his readers into the world of the protagonist and delivers a fitting, if rather eye-popping, conclusion to an intriguing mystery.
We meet history professor Jon Talbot as he attends the mortuary in Martinsville County, Massachusetts to identify the body of his late wife, Patience, known as Pax. She's been killed in a road accident, having apparently swerved to avoid a deer on the road at night. Jon's suffering from the dislocation of sudden and unexpected bereavement, but soon senses that things don't really add up. An unfamiliar man lurks in the background at Pax's funeral and a police visit to his home reveals that Pax's phone and laptop have gone missing in the aftermath of her accident. Or was it an accident at all?
We follow Jon as he teases apart the many threads of Pax's hidden past and her secretive behaviour in the months prior to her death. His amateur investigations lead him to uncover indications of infidelity and involvement in some sort of covert activity, culminating in an unexpectedly violent confrontation as he finally uncovers the truth behind Pax's death.
I found myself becoming invested in Jon's search for answers as the truth behind his wife's death is gradually revealed, but must admit that I found the story's conclusion quite jarring and not completely satisfying. I certainly don't expect contemporary thrillers to follow "the rules" of detective fiction by any means, but (without wishing to drop spoilers) the conclusion to Cause of Death felt just a little too much out of left field to me.
Especially in light of the shorter format, Deaver's considerable skills as a writer of thrillers are evident in Cause of Death. His prose is sparse but punchy, the dialogue convincing and the characters multi-dimensional and well conceived. Both existing followers of Jeffery Deaver's oeuvre and newcomers are sure to find this a stimulating and rewarding read.
My thanks to the author, Jeffery Deaver, publisher Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novella.

Interesting and well written, and fits a lot into a short story. I would recommend this to other people.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an review-
Deaver always writes a winner!
An accident or murder? Jon's wife car has plunged down the hill killing his wife.....
Jon doesn't think its an accident so he begins investigating.
After five years of marriage does Jon really know his wife? Grab this book to find the answers to this exciting read

Published digitally by Amazon Original Stories on July 29, 2021

Patience “Pax” Addison travels quite often to do charity work, leaving behind her husband, a history professor named Jon Talbot. Jon gets a call telling him that Pax died in a car accident. Jon sees a man lurking in the woods during Pax’s funeral. When a police detective wants some additional information from Jon for the accident report, Jon wonders why a detective is filling out accident reports. When Jon learns that Pax’s phone and computer were not recovered at the accident scene, the circumstances of Pax’s death suddenly seem suspicious. He travels to the scene with the detective and finds evidence suggesting that there might have been more to the accident than hitting a deer.

The plot will obviously turn the history professor into a detective — a role that, in Jon’s opinion, history professors play every day. His investigation makes him wonder whether his wife was having an affair and whether her lover might have killed her. The lurking man is apparently following Jon, perhaps with nefarious intent. Jon’s investigation and the death of someone who might have been involved in the accident make the police wonder whether Jon might have killed Pax. An experienced crime fiction reader will suspect that the apparently unconnected drowning of a woman must be related to the plot or it wouldn’t be in the story.

As the reader ponders whether Jon’s theory (or possibly the police detective’s suspicion about Jon) might be true, Jeffery Deaver introduces a plot twist and a bit of action that leads to a surprising resolution of the mystery. Unlike many modern crime novels, the surprise is credible. Not particularly likely, but I can live with unlikely for the sake of a good story. As Deaver often does, he tells a good story here. The happy ending isn’t forced, in part because Jon will never be happy about the death his beloved wife, even if she kept some secrets from him.

The story is short; longer than the usual definition of “short story” but shorter than the usual definition of “novel.” It probably falls on the border between novelette and novella. Since Amazon hasn’t priced it as a novel, length will probably matter only to readers who only want to invest in books that take more time to read.

RECOMMENDED

This was a short story - or so the page count here tells me - but it packed a punch! I was completely hooked from page 1. I was absolutely sucked in to the mystery - what happened to his wife? Who is this mysterious man?

I loved the MC and would absolutely read more from him, if he went into the business of tracking down more intriguing mysteries!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

Always excited to see a new Jeffery Deaver book and this short story (77 pages) didn't disappoint.

Jon Talbot is a history professor who arrives at a medical examiner's office to identify a body. His wife Pax was killed in a car accident accident after plunging off a mountain highway driving home from a volunteer assignment. After the funeral, her possessions are returned to Jon, but he notices that her phone and computer are missing. Jon doesn't think the accident is quite as it seems or exactly as described by the Police and begins to investigate and find out what really happened.

An intriguing twisty tale, short and straight to the point, but a very enjoyable quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I don't think you can go wrong with Deaver. Especially his short work is allways entertaining and has a twist you don't see coming, even when you know. that there is a twist.

Jeffery Deaver's short stories are interesting to say the least. Just when you think that its a straight pot , bang there comes the curve and then another and so it continues till the end. With these short stories what I look at is if the plot is credible, whether the characters are believable and whether these are something what I'd recommend to others. 'Cause of Death' is one of those which ticks all the three boxes and makes it one of the enjoyable reads, which is short enough to get through it in a day and intruiging enough that you dont want to put the book down until it does not get over.
Thank you Netgalley for sharing this book with me for an unbaised feedback of it.

Cause of Death by Jeffrey Deaver

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for an e-ARC for my honest review.

Jeffrey Deaver packs a lot into this intriguing short story. It was a very suspenseful thriller that kept building. After observing some odd circumstances around her accident, Jon searches for the reason his wife died. As the author takes us to the conclusion, we wonder how well do we really know our spouses?

#CauseofDeath #NetGalley

I enjoyed the pace of this mystery, finding out the clues of what happened to Jon’s wife, Patience, quickly and with much thought. I loved that I was allowed to play detective alongside the protagonist, and yet, was totally surprised when the ending appeared. Well done. Thank you NetGalley for my copy. All of my comments and opinions are my own.

A man's wife, Pax Addison, is killed in what appears to be an unfortunate single car auto accident. But there are a series of small inconsistencies, clues, that make him suspect and then believe that what killed his wife was not an accident.
This entire story flows from the mind of the husband as he decides he will personally investigate the circumstances of his wife's death.
That search very slowly reveals how much he didn't know about his wife's life and instills in the reader a feeling that perhaps no spouse knows as much about their mate as they believe they do.
Pax Addison turned out to be someone other than what she appeared to be, which was the administrator of a charitable organization..
All of this becomes clear as the husband becomes entangled in a story which would be spoiled if the reader received any more information prior to reading this tale.
I couldn't put this short story aside until I had finished it because Jeffrey Deaver, a master storyteller, provided just enough information to make me need to know what was coming next. Thanks again Mr. Deaver!

Being a huge fan of Jeffery Deaver, I was excited to swoop up his novella, Cause of Death. This was a great little suspense read that did not require a huge investment of my reading time, but I would have enjoyed it being a complete novel, too.

Jon Talbot is grieving his wife, Pax, who supposedly died in a tragic car accident on her way home from a volunteer assignment. Upon further inspection, Jon suspects this was no accident. He gets the local police to dig a little deeper, but eventually he investigates on his own, leading to some dangerous situations.

Deaver delivered once gain with a twisty yarn that held my interest for all 77 pages. I will continue to read and recommend anything this author writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was an amazing read for being so short. It had mystery, intrigue, suspense and you got to know the characters. Wonderful story.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but my love for Jeffery Deaver made me give this a try and I'm glad I did. Jon's wife dies unexpectedly in an automobile accident. And instead of grieving and getting closure, he finds more questions then answers in her death.

I was surprised at what can be packed into so few pages. I flew through this because the more read, the more questions I had and couldn't wait for them to be satisfied. Jeffrey Deaver fans should love this novella.

Cause of Death by Jeffrey Deaver is very interesting and full of twists! I have always enjoyed books written by Jeffrey Deaver and was intrigued by this shorter novella. This story is about a history professor named Jon Talbot. He has been thinking about the recent accidental death of his wife, Patricia, or as he calls her, Pax. Professor Talbot and his wife have been well-liked in their community and since Pax's death, he has felt as if something is off about the accident. Jon Talbot does not seem to openly grieve over the loss of Pax. Due to his passion for history, and finding previously unknown facts about many things, he begins to dwell on the possible alternative explanations for his wife's fatal accident. Why was she on that stretch of highway at that time? Where had she been? Was she meeting someone in another town when she was supposed to be working with a charity for people in need? The answers to all of these questions will soon cause Jon to become a suspect in her death! I won't post spoilers, but the plot twists may have you thinking about how easy facts can be manipulated.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Another great short story from Jeffery Deaver. I have really enjoyed these short story releases. Nice change of pace from novels, that I can sit and enjoy in one sitting. Plus all the usual character development, pacing, and plot twists that are always in a great Deaver novel. #CauseofDeath #NetGalley

A Devilish Twist…
A history professor investigating his own wife’s death may get more than he bargained for in this quick read from this accomplished author. Gripping and intriguing from start to finish with a devilish twist, much is packed into this short space. Wholly entertaining.