Customer Reviews

A Shot to Die For

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Old fans and new will surely be delighted with this fourth in the Ellie Foreman mystery series. This one begins and ends with a mystery.

This time around, Ellie is scouting locations for a documentary video to be shot at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Lake Geneva is an enclave populated by powerful, influential "old money" families cocooned inside their mansions for generations. Ellie expects a leisurely shoot, free of the danger and murder she seems to attract like a magnet. As she returns home, her thoughts are on daughter Rachel, now 15 and not so easy for a single mom to
handle. At a rest area between Lake Geneva and Chicago, Ellie overhears a cell phone conversation and pauses to converse with a troubled young woman. Seconds later, a pick up truck speeds past and the woman standing beside her is shot. A shaken Ellie vows she won't get involved this time but one clue leads to another until she's up to her eyebrows in a murder mystery germinating for thirty years.

Ellie's widowed father and her best friend Susan Siler try to warn her off the hunt for clues, but she needs a distraction. Ex-husband Barry has his girlfriend du jour. Rachel is spending more time with Barry and his girlfriend than she is at home. Her lover David Linden has been less than attentive. And her old friend Fouad has worries of his own. So sleuthing
it is, in the best Ellie Foreman style.

What do the death of a young girl thirty years ago and the recent sniper incident have in common? The deeper Ellie digs for truth the worse it looks for Luke Sutton. The feelings Luke ignites in Ellie are more powerful than anything she ever felt with David. Determined to prove him innocent, she sifts her way through a maze of clues beginning in the 1970s and culminating in several murders in the present. And all the while a murderer is breathing down her neck.

A Shot to Die For is Hellmann at her very best yet. Plot development is masterful as it builds towards a shocking climax. An intriguing cast of realistic characters put Ellie through her paces. And don't forget that closing mystery I mentioned earlier. This book ends with a sly twist that has me itching for the next book in this series.

Video producer Ellie Foreman was drinking a Diet Coke and relaxing outside of a Wisconsin rest stop when a shot rings out and drops the woman standing next to her. Even though Ellie had just exchanged a few friendly words with Daria Flynn Ellie is content to let the police handle the case while she films a documentary about a former Playboy Bunny resort. However, the detective ("Columbo on Xanax") seems suspicious of Ellie and the pleas from Daria's mother and sister push Ellie into looking closer at the shooting. If there's one thing Ellie knows it's Mother's Guilt, and Ellie finds herself investigating Daria's last boyfriend, Luke Sutton of the powerful Sutton family. Recovering from a betrayal by a boyfriend Ellie finds herself reluctantly drawn to the charming but troubled man even as her friends warn her off when Luke begins to look guilty for past crimes involving his family.

This fourth Ellie Foreman mystery continues to display the same wit, suspense, and thoughtfulness seen in the previous novels. Ellie's family once again plays a major role as her teenage daughter has a masters in the art of manipulation and is becoming close to Ellie's ex-husband's new girlfriend who just happens to be an ex-Playboy Bunny. When Ellie's own father shares a secret that shakes her to the core it forces her to look closely at the relationships within her family. Hellmann has created a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating read in a series that continues to delight and engage the reader.

Ellie Foreman is a documentary filmmaker. She stops at a rest stop on her way home from scouting shoot locations. She overhears a distressing phone call and engages in conversation with the woman. Before Ellie realizes it, the woman, Daria, is shot in a drive-by sniper shooting.

Since Ellie was the last person to speak to her, the police talk to her at length. Then Daria's mother and sister visit asking Ellie for any information she has as to why Daria was shot. They ask her assistance in finding out more.

When Ellie does a little digging, she finds a murder from thirty years ago and wonders what the connection might be. She also meets Luke Sutton. Ellie finds herself attracted to him, but she is concerned because he seems to be very involved in these murders. She works harder to uncover the truth, hoping to clear Luke in the process.

I had never read any books in this series. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading others. Ellie is a very likeable character. The setting is well written and inviting. I found this to be a book you kept wanting to read to find out who did it and why. I highly recommend this book.

Check out www.mysteryloverscorner.com

Ellie Foreman is on her way back to Chicago from shooting a video at a newly renovated Lake Geneva resort when she has a quick conversation with a woman at a roadside rest stop. A van pulls up and someone inside the van shoots the woman dead. Ellie is a reluctant witness, and even more reluctantly agrees to investigate the incident for the family of the murdered woman. This investigation pulls Ellie into some ancient history in Lake Geneva, and (once again) she finds herself at personal risk.

Hellmann is a good plotter. She has the ability to give enough of a sense of place for the reader to feel connected without also being overwhelmed by the details. While I enjoy her characters, I do sometimes find that Ellie worries about things that wouldn't faze me while ignoring situations that would have me blowing a gasket. This does make me examine Ellie's motivations, and sometimes I find that Ellie is behaving more in character than I had thought at first glance. A SHOT TO DIE FOR is the fourth book in a series that keeps improving.

Video documentarian Ellie Forman is returning home from a shoot at a resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, when she stops at a rest stop where she meets a woman, and in the middle of a short conversation with her, the woman is shot dead by a sniper. And if that won't get you involved in a murder investigation, nothing will. But after a few more close calls, Ellie promises herself she won't get involved, not this time. However, like that cat who got killed by you know what, Ellie just can't let it rest and soon she's in trouble, because the sniper's next bullet just might have Ellie's name on it if she isn't careful.

Also as the investigation unfolds it appears to be pointing to someone Ellie cares about and she is bound and determined to prove that he didn't do it. So, once again, Ellie is in the thick of things and she is in more danger than she realizes in this mystery that I just loved. Ellie is a great character with just enough personal problems to be totally believable. The story pulled me right in and intrigued me enough so that I'll go out and get the three books in the series that came out before this one and that says a lot.

In Chicago, divorced Ellie Foreman raises her teenage daughter Rachel while filming documentaries and training videos. Currently, Ellie is developing a video on the Lodge, a former Playboy Club turned into a popular G-rated resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. At a rest stop between Chicago and Lake Geneva, Ellie meets Daria Flynn, who says she was dumped here but is expecting a ride to come pick her up shortly. Instead a sniper in a pick up truck kills her as Ellie watches in horror.

Though the pay is good, the filming is uninteresting. Intrigued by Daria's assassination and experienced with investigations (see AN EYE FOR MURDER, A PICTURE OF GUILT, and AN IMAGE OF DEATH), Ellie still vows to stay out of this one. Instead between Detective Milanovich's questioning her on anomalies and other law enforcement officials asking questions of her too, Ellie begins her brand of investigation. As she begins closing in on the secrets of an affluent family living in an incredible mansion overlooking Lake Geneva, the killer is closing in on her.

The fourth Foreman picturesque amateur sleuth mystery is a fun tale as Ellie reluctantly is pulled in the investigation by initially the police questioning her and her increasing knowledge of the victim, a chef in a fancy restaurant. Though the use of a chance meeting at the highway rest stop begins Ellie's quest for the truth, fans will enjoy her efforts to uncover the truth as she sees things differently than Milanovich and the other law enforcement types. Libby Fischer Hellmann provides a fine who-done-it starring a likable protagonist and a strong support cast to include the locale.

Harriet Klausner