DNF - I am rarely a fan of the use of a prologue. I find the utilization often diminishes the building that the first phrases in the introductory chapter bring because it is such an aside from the central plot of the read that I find it removes me from the excitement I had been hoping to see flourish. The writing style was not one I very much enjoyed. The prologue was as far as I got & I found it to be very dry & cars whilst giving me nothing to make me long to move forward.

I appreciate the opportunity to review but I just didn’t enjoy this story. I just couldn’t connect with the characters.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley. The characters are not likable and the story is convoluted…no real theme…this one was not for me.

The Purple Lily is an interesting story about a charismatic, self-absorbed serial killer, very different than the ones that hide until the very end.

Charlotte Romano author of the debut book, 'They Always Make a Mistake', teams up with local detective Daniella Keezar. Charlotte hopes that she can get some information about a couple of cold cases that might help her get started on her next book. Daniella helps her out but has some rules about how much she can share with out ruining the possibility of catching the killers.

While returning home for a funeral, Charlotte runs into Grant Dolan, her stalker from school. As soon as he says hello, the old, uncomfortable feelings come back in a hurry. She kept everything he sent her in a box just in case it might be needed later. She decides to take the evidence with her back to Coos Bay, certain that she will need it now more than ever.

Grant Dolan is a wealthy architect and also is living in Coos Bay. He works at ingratiating his self with Tanya, an artist and Charlotte's live in partner, to keep his eyes on Charlotte but everything about him rubs her the wrong way.

Daniella unknowingly gets involved with Grant in a sexual relationship which enables him to ask about cases she is working on. When he has to go to Germany for business, he breaks up with her and Daniella doesn't take it very well. Charlotte comes to Daniella with her box to get her opinion on the evidence and discloses Grant is the person responsible. Daniella starts to rehash her relationship with Grant and realizes she may have been in danger, so she creates a murder wall at home as she starts to investigate his where abouts during crimes and connects the dots. Slowly she sees the links but has no hard evidence, until he slips about a news article. He may have unwittingly given away his location during one of the cold case murders. After several incidents, Daniella realizes that she needs to take the murder wall down and reassemble it at the station, and share it with her boss who isn't very happy that she may have compromised the evidence and the case.

So, in spite of this being a murder mystery involving a serial killer, it really wasn't a dark story. It has some light moments with Charlotte and Tanya's relationship and a few others as well. There is a huge twist at the end that I did not see coming. This is a wonderful story, a real page turner.