This book is much like a book by this author with a different series. The names and places are changed but the friendships and boyfriend is very similar. But I enjoyed the book. I didn't try to figure out who did it. I let the story play out. I like how this author has a surprise twist at the end. Enjoyed the book.

This was an interesting story of a young girl who blocked out the night her mother was murdered over 20 years ago. Now that she’s an adult, Lisa begins to remember small details from that night so she hires a PI named Tracey Marks to help make sense of her mother’s unsolved murder. There are a lot of red herrings here along with multiple minor storylines that got a little muddled for me however it was a good overall storyline.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc!

I thought it was very well thought out and written excellently would read another by this author!

When Lisa Kane was a little girl, her mother was murdered in cold blood. Investigators figured that the young girl witnessed the murder with her own eyes, but unfortunately, the intense trauma that she experienced left her without a single memory of that fateful night.

The killer was never found, and over 20 years later, Rebecca Kane's murder remained a cold case. Lisa is now a pretty successful fashion designer. But as time goes on, she realizes that her memories of her mother's murder are slowly starting to come back... but are they real or not?

Prior to choosing this book, I didn't know that it was part of a series. The private investigator that Lisa decided to hire to solve her mother's case once and for all is Tracey Marks, and this is the 4th book on her adventures. However, it is a standalone book, so even if you've never read a single Tracey Marks book before, it doesn't really matter.

The book starts out pretty slow for me, but it did ramp up in terms of excitement pretty quickly. Lisa's father, Jacob, was considered the main suspect in the crime, but since he had a solid alibi, he was never charged or anything.

The interesting thing here is that there are actually many characters that can be considered suspects, as well, so if you enjoy guessing games, you're going to like this one.

However, I'm only giving this one a 3.5 because I think it could be a lot more concise at various points throughout the story. Some parts seem to drag on much longer than necessary, and I couldn't help but wish that it went a little faster. Additionally, I think the ending was a bit of a let-down considering all the build-up.

Nevertheless, looking forward to reading more books from this author! Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC.

Memory of murder by Ellen Shapiro.
Lisa Kane was three years old when her mother was murdered. On the night of the murder, Lisa was awakened by a loud noise. Whatever she witnessed at the time, the trauma from that night erased most of her memories. The primary suspect was Lisa’s father, Jason Kane, but he was never arrested since he had an airtight alibi.
Really good read with good characters. Kept me gripped. 4*.

It's always hit or miss for me towards any murder mystery books that I've read so far. The blurbs are really really interesting. I just don't like the ending and how everything turns at the end.
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Lisa Kane was three years old when her mother was murdered. On the night of the murder, Lisa was awakened by a loud noise. Whatever she witnessed at the time, the trauma from that night erased most of her memories. The primary suspect was Lisa’s father, Jason Kane, but he was never arrested since he had an airtight alibi.

Twenty-two years later, Lisa now twenty-five, hires PI Tracey Marks to find her mother’s killer. Lisa’s memory is slowly coming back in flashes, but she isn’t certain what’s real or imagined.

In this thrilling whodunit mystery, Tracey now has to dig deep to unravel the secrets and lies that were never exposed over twenty years ago in order to capture the killer.

Overall this was a fun, exciting book that gave me several hours of escapism and enjoyment. Id definitely read other books released by this author.

This was an enjoyable mystery and I was keen to dig in and learn if Tracy could solve the cold case of the murder of Lisa’s mother. There was plenty to investigate, lots to ponder and my interest was kept until the end of the book.
I felt that there was a lot of deep discussion and at times I was distracted, I wanted to ‘hurry up’ the storyline and cut some of the long winded explanations. Connection with the characters wasn’t as constant as I would have liked.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I liked this mystery, but it got a little boring to me. I was still interested in who killed Rebecca, but there was a lot of repetitive things Tracy kept doing over and over. And it might not bother others, which is fine, but it did bother me a tad. For most though, I’m sure, if you love a good mystery, you’ll love or at least like it. I’m probably just being a little cranky right now. Haha...Thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers, Indies United Publishing House, for the opportunity to read and review #MemoryOfMurder with my honest thoughts.

Interesting but not really my cup of tea. Well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It's interesting what our memory does to shield us from suffering and from shock. Lisa was 3 years old when she saw her mother dead and probably her murderer, but she does remember much. After she hired a PI to find the culprit, learning a few nuggets about what may have happened she starts remembering a few things and those things help to unravel the past. Tracey, the PI, also has to face her own demons, she lost her parents early in life and is afraid of relationships because she does not want the feeling of being left alone again. Was Lisa's father the real assassin? Who was her murder? How about her brother? The more Tracey looks into the past of the murdered woman, the more possible culprits arise and more difficult information to relay to her daughter.
A well-written and put-together story got my attention from the beginning, was easy to read, and very entertaining!
I downloaded a free copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

When Lisa Kane was a little girl, her mother was murdered. Twenty-two years later, Lisa's memory of the event starts to come back in flashes. She hires PI Tracey Marks to find her mother's killer and discover once and for all if her father, Jason Kane, was responsible.

I was instantly interested when I read the summary of this book, but unfortunately I didn't feel it lived up to my expectations. I felt the writing was choppy and abrupt at times, which pulled me out of the story. I know in a lot of ARCs formatting and punctuation issues will be fixed, and I hope that's the case here- there were enough issues that it was really distracting. The writing was very descriptive, but I felt this detracted from the plot. A lot of the descriptions seemed overly detailed and unnecessary. This was a shame because I feel like the plot has a lot of potential. It was fun trying to figure out the killer when it seems like everyone is a suspect.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

This my first time reading this author. And despite some of the reviews I really enjoyed the book and plan on going back and reading the first three in the series. Well done.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by BooksGoSocial and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

This one didn’t grab me.

Intriguing and compelling I really enjoyed this read. It took me a little longer to get through but fun nonetheless.

I was so disappointed in this. The story wasn't gripping AT ALL, which is the biggest disappointment when reading a mystery. There was some suspense throughout, but overall there was little intrigue to really carry the actual "who done it" plot. It's FINE, the book just didn't follow through on the potential it had.

I just did not care for this book. It didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. By the end, I didn't care who did it.

I really enjoyed reading this thriller, the story was intriguing and kept my attention the whole way through I couldn't wait to find out how it unraveled. A great book

Memory of Murder turned out to be a 4th book of the Tracey Marks Mystery which I honestly didn’t know until I found the book in NetGalley. I loved mystery-thriller books so I kind of had high expectations with this book after reading the book summary.

To be honest, it started with the right setting, about a cold murder case which happened 20 years ago, which I thought was like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo vibe. The investigator, Tracey, then proceeded to reinvestigate the murder through going back to the main suspect who was Lisa’s father (which they can’t incriminate because he had solid alibi) and Lisa’s uncle who was believed to had an argument with his sister.

I don’t know if it was because I was anxious to find out who the main suspect was which made me to finish the book in one sitting, or maybe because it was just short and draggy. To be honest, it was a page-turner and it hooked me to all the details and the unraveled mysteries of the prime suspects of the murder. I was nearly 88% finished when I kind of expected that this book will surprised me with who the real suspect was and his motive.

On the 95% mark, this was when I was on the edge of myself and I just couldn’t imagine finding the suspect with the 5% unread part left. I even thought there’s a part two because you just couldn’t read a book with a carefully-laid out evidence like that!

The real suspect was exposed and I find it disappointing that it ended like that. It felt that the author decided to abandon her ship and decided to just end the novel with that kind of suspect, alibi and ending.

I’d rate it 3 stars because I believe the book had so much potential from the start.

I have mixed feelings about this book and thus 3.5 stars.

The things that I liked was the protagonist Tracey who is very likeable and the dialogues that are funny and fun to read. She seems to be like a fun person around and she is super friendly with everyone. The story is engaging and the murder mystery is nicely unwrapped. You learn a lot about being a private investigator and how much effort it takes to uncover a murder. The variety of cuisines and food Tracey was eating is amazing. It made me envious and hungry so lucky her to be living in New York. Her gym/jogging routine is on the border of the obsession. Good for her.

The things that I did not like: The book is written in very short sentences and simple English that it is one of my biggest pet peeves. I cannot stand published novels that are written as if the author is writing in a foreign language or if the book is directed at children.

"When I got home I changed into my sweats and made a salad. I poured myself a glass of Merlot and sat down to eat. White I was eating I made a list of people...."

"The drive back was easy. No traffic. I was sitting in my office by 11.00. My phone rang."

"I was on the road by 10.30. My GPS took me on I-684 to Exit 7 and from there I followed the directions. The countryside was beautiful. [...] I Saw Jacqueline coming towards my car. She was dressed in what looked like riding pants and boots. Her blond hair was hidden under a cap."

"I was starved. I went into refrigerator and saw there wasn't much. I didn't want to go to sleep on an empty stomach so I cut up an apple and sliced some cheddar cheese. I grabbed some crackers and sat down to eat."

Short sentences might be meant to build the tension. However, the story is written in the first point of view so repetitiveness of “I” is overbearing. Mixing it up with longer sentences and broader vocabulary would have compensated for such choppy reading.

Also the detail is excruciating. Every single aspect of the day was described to a painful detail: even down to the minutes spent during sex, all conversations with waiters, receptionists, doormen and other random people. I did not mind some of the details because it made me feel like I was there and my conversation was being interrupted by a waiter to take my order, but other times I almost grinned by teeth.

Moreover the same information is being explained and retold to other people could have been skipped. Some information was completely irrelevant or unnecessary to the story (e.g. Tracey taking a pit stop (a bathroom break – too much information). Or Jack getting a parking spot in her building because some other tenant was away – not contributing to the story anything.

Also at the end of the book Tracey's actions were a bit contrived to fit the ending. She is agitating all suspects so they take an action, she even dreams about being attacked with a gun by one of them, she goes on a shooting range to practice and then... she puts her gun back into the safe of the office (huh??). What was the point of her practice and the whole chapter about it if she was not planning on carrying her gun for protection?

Another random shocking detail: Tracey is feeding a burger and fries to her 1 year old nephew (I cannot remember his age exactly but he has just learned his first word). French fries to a baby? We do live in two completely different cultures.

The only reason why I could put up with this story is that the plot was interesting, dialogues witty and because I thought that the author might have Asperger and that could explain the painful attention to detail, repetitiveness and the strange writing style. I am curious enough to read another book of Ellen Shapiro just to compare the writing styles.

p.s. the book is part of the series because there are references to the past events but it can be read as stand alone.