Murder in the One Percent

I absolutely love cozies. I enjoy the fun, light hearted, and fast paced stories. I love getting to know the characters and feeling like they are people I could actually come across in my small town. That being said, some of my favorite books to read are thrillers. I love the edge of your seat, suspenseful  feeling. I received a copy of Murder in the One Percent from netgalley. It isn't what I usually request but every now and then I like to request something that is different from my regular reads. Thrillers are what I read when I first began reading mysteries. In this story we meet Oliver Parrott, a young black detective working in a wealthy area of Philadelphia. He enjoys his job even if it is a bit, in his opinion, mundane. He investigates mainly stolen property and although he knows he shouldn't, he wishes for more to do. He lives in a nice apartment with his cockatiel, Horace. His fiancee, Tonya, is deployed--again, this time in Afghanistan. He misses her dearly and hasn't had the best day after hearing from back home (St. Louis) that his cousin, Bo, was killed during a shootout. He was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. He speaks briefly with his fiancee and then receives a call to go investigate a death, it shouldn't take long as they believe its natural causes but he needs to stop by.

We are taken a month back in time to the home of Caroline (Caro) and John E. Campbell a very wealthy couple who are planning a small get together over a weekend to celebrate John's 65th birthday. Caroline has invited six other very wealthy couples who are all close friends of the couple. John is initially a little uneasy because many of the couples do not get along with other people invited, namely Preston Phillips--who is also the cousin of Caroline, but as they all love John, they agree to try to put aside their feelings and attend the weekend long birthday get together. An extra guest will attend the party as she had been staying with one of the couples and they can't very well leave her home alone. I really enjoyed the flashback. It was so well done and that, at least to me, is no small feat for a book. It gave just enough history from enough characters (even the multiple POV was done well) to make me loathe Preston by page 20. The more I read the more I disliked him.

We are back in present day, it's the weekend of John E.'s birthday celebration. Everyone shows up as expected. They chit chat and catch up. They spend the weekend riding horses, shopping, eating, drinking and enjoying the winter weather. There are a few hiccups though (as everyone expected with Preston showing up), Preston's wife has broken her ankle. A few people have plans to confront Preston about ways he has wronged their family be it financially or emotionally. Everyone had a bone to pick with him. It was easy to dislike him. On the last day of the weekends long party, Preston is found unresponsive in his room. He is taken to the hospital but it's too late. He was poisoned, but by who? Everyone disliked him and because the poison is so easy to get and so many of the characters had access to it, would Detective Parrott be able to figure out who slipped it to Preston?

I was pulled in to the book immediately. For a debut this book was incredible. I tend to give a lot of leeway for new authors, as I feel like there is a learning curve--Ms. Richard didn't need it. I was halfway through the book and aside from a character (who I wasn't supposed to like anyway), I couldn't find anything that I didn't like or that, in my opinion, felt far fetched. I can usually find something that just doesn't work, that wasn't the case here. Two days before Christmas and I couldn't stop reading this book. In between playing with children, giving out gifts and preparing for the holiday I was glued to my computer. It's one of those books that you can't put down. With 40 pages left to I still hadn't figured out who the killer was. I started it a few days ago only reading the first couple of pages (I like to figure out my next book before I finish my current read) and after finishing the last book that I had to review I started on this one again and had it almost finished that same day. I felt like the ending to the mystery was plausible which I always enjoy in a mystery. It didn't seem over the top. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

I received an arc of this book from netgalley.