Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Roberta Isleib (Author)

Book Description

Series: An Advice Column Mystery | Publication Date: March 6, 2007

As a clinical psychologist and author of an online advice column, Dr. Rebecca Butterman is supposed to help people resolve their internal conflicts-not stir up her own. But when trouble strikes very close to home, Rebecca's investigative instincts make it hard for her to maintain appropriate boundaries...

Dating can be deadly

After her young next-door neighbor, Madeline, is found dead from an apparent suicide, Rebecca can't believe that she, a trained professional, missed the signs. But not everything is adding up... Madeline's mother insists the suicide note wasn't written by her daughter. Rebecca puts that down to denial-until she finds Madeline's blog, a zippy chronicle of dating adventures that suggests anything but depression. When Rebecca's editor assigns her to do a column on the modern singles scene, Rebecca finds herself re-tracing the Madeline's steps into the dating world, looking for clues to the mystery of the young woman's death. There, over-eager suitors are the least of her worries. Dr Butterman is about to discover just how deadly some advice can be...

Editorial Reviews

Review

Rebecca Butterman is smart, sympathetic, and caring, a sleuth whose advice you can trust. --Susan Wittig Albert

A really plummy mystery, flawlessly plotted...The heroine is an advice columnist--and a good one! --Margo Howard, author of "Dear Margo"

A harrowing psychological suspense tale meticulously told. A winner... --CJ Box

About the Author

Clinical psychologist Roberta Isleib is the author of 8 mysteries published by Berkley Prime Crime. Her books and stories have been nominated for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. As Lucy Burdette, she is launching the Key West food critic mysteries in 2012. (AN APPETITE FOR MURDER, NAL)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; first edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425214745
• ISBN-13: 978-0425214749
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a clinical psychologist and the author of DEADLY ADVICE (Berkley, March 2007), featuring advice columnist/psychologist Dr. Rebecca Butterman. The second in the series, PREACHING TO THE CORPSE, will be out in November 2007.

I've also written the Agatha and Anthony-nominated Cassie Burdette golf lover's mystery series, including SIX STROKES UNDER, A BURIED LIE, PUTT TO DEATH, FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, and FINAL FORE. You don't have to love golf to love Cassie!

Read more at http://www.robertaisleib.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Expect "Cozy"..., May 13, 2007

By 

feysidhe "feysidhe" (Mount Kisco, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I won't bother summarizing the plot since it's been done so thoroughly by others, but I will say that although people refer to this book as a "cozy," it is anything but. Sure, there's the amateur sleuth, a bevy of sidekicks, and touches of humor but this book is considerably less "gentle" than most cozy mysteries. In fact, that's why I like it better. So if you're getting tired of the small-town, small-minds type of cozy, pick this one up. You *won't* be disappointed!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great New Advice Column Cozy Mystery, March 13, 2007

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dr. Rebecca Butterman is a clinical psychologist and author of an online advice column. When her next door neighbor, Madeline, commits suicide, she is surprised she didn't see any of the signs. Isabel, Madeline's mom, asks Rebecca to give her opinion about some things she finds in Madeline's apartment. Isabel doesn't believe it was suicide. The cops are convinced it was. Rebecca really doesn't want to become involved, but she does.

Rebecca ends up tracing some of Madeline's forays into the dating scene when her editor assigns a column on dating. Add to that a messy divorce and the nosy neighbors and you have Rebecca's mixed up life. As she tries to untangle the information about Madeline, she also has to come to terms with her own life.

Did Madeline commit suicide? If not, who killed her and why? Can Rebecca answer these questions without putting herself in danger?

I loved this into into a new cozy mystery series. What a great idea to have an online advice columnist and psychologist be an amateur sleuth. I love it. Rebecca is not a know-it-all by any means. I felt I could really relate to her. She's just a down-to-earth woman with a lot going on who ends up trying to help out. I thought the plot twists and turns at the end were great. I stumbled right along with Rebecca as she found the killer.

I can't wait for the next one! I highly recommend this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done, May 19, 2008

By 

drebbles (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dr. Rebecca Butterman is used to helping people - she's a clinical psychologist and the author of an on-line advice column, so when Madeline, her next door neighbor is found dead from an apparent suicide, Rebecca wonders if she could have done something to help her. When Madeline's mother insists it couldn't be suicide, Rebecca agrees to look into the death. Rebecca soon realizes that Madeline was not all she seemed to be and as she investigates the on-line dating world for a writing assignment, she realizes the two are linked. The more she looks into both cases, the more she puts herself into danger, danger she may not escape from.

"Deadly Advice" is a well written and well plotted mystery. Rebecca is a nicely done, complex heroine, recently divorced and just starting to get her life back together. She is not perfect and her own personal therapy sessions help develop her character. While her advice column is interesting to read about, as were her attempts at on-line dating, what I liked best about the book were the details about her home life - her cooking, her taking in Madeline's cat, and her neighbors and the condo meetings they had. Rebecca's neighbors - especially Mts. Dunbarton, Peter Morgan, and Babette Fnster - are all well done. The mystery itself is well written and well plotted with plenty of red herrings and readers will have a hard time figuring out who the killer is. While author Roberta Isleib flirts with the almost standard mystery plot device of a romance between Rebecca and Detective Jack Meigs, she adds a welcome wrinkle to that formula. And, while the book seems on the surface to be a cozy mystery, it's a bit too gritty to fit that definition.

"Deadly Advice" is well done.