Detective Madison Chase is hunting a killer. “P. G.” is murdering sex offenders and sending poems to Chase to taunt her.

I enjoyed the balance between the case and Chase’s personal life, with a bitter custody battle with her ex husband over their daughter, Emily.

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Alan Brenham and Books Go Social for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and didn’t see the twist at the end!

I found the narration too slow and had to increase the speed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Thank You, NetGalley for the review copy.
Once Upon A Crime by Alan Brenham is a mystery or thriller where I couldn't guess who was the killer. And I'm usually good a this. In fact, I'm so good at guessing that I smell twists from miles off. But this was different.

Again, I enjoyed listening to this book. Initially, I thought this was about a vigilante going after crooks and then as the story proceeded, I realised the killer had an agenda. So, it was a good mystery, packaged with the right smoke screens to keep you guessing and in my case, guessing incorrectly.

Wow! I have to say that I do love a mystery/thriller with a lot of twists and where predictions don't come easily, so Once Upon A Crime fit my taste perfectly.

The book starts off with a very gruesome murder and one that leaves the reader perplexed. We find out immediately that the serial killer is someone named Penny Grimes (aka PG), and she is going after any and all sexual predators she can. She does her "research" by going to the courthouse and listening to cases and when a sexual predator is let off on bail or set free/innocent, she hunts them down and designs special murders for each one. Following the murders, she sends poems to the lead investigator, Detective Madison Chase. The rhyming poems are taunting Madison in particular.

My favorite part of the book was four-year-old Emily who played a major part in the plot to move it forward. I thought the plot and characterization were both very well-done and the book skillfully written. In my opinion, there were no holes in the story but the twists, especially at the end, are not easily detected and my guess is that most readers won't. I sure didn't.

I thought the narrator did a really good job of the pacing of the reading and voice inflections to help progress the suspense. I would listen to her narration in other books for sure.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audiobook copy in exchange.

4 stars

Detective Madison Chase is facing many challenges at the same time...hunting a killer while dealing with custody issues with her ex.

This book had some surprising twists to it and a very surprising ending it was well written and I enjoyed it very much I would recommend it for others it's a little different than the Cozy Mysteries I usually read but it was a very good bookl.p.

Such a clever planned and executed drama that will keep those pages turning. A proper thriller that is both convoluted and contrived with an ever present menace loitering around in the background. loved it

OMG that last twist, did not see that one coming!! I love me a good kickass, name-taking, in-charge woman you get that in spades with Det. Chase! This was a bit of a wild ride and I was totally here for it. Except for that group of disgusting, sexually assaulting asshats her ex-husband hung out with...but they end up in jail so...

#OnceUponACrime
#NetGalley

Lots of social issues seemingly thrown into this tale. I wasn’t keen on the style but the twist at the end inadmit I didn’t see coming.

The narration was fine. It wasn't make or break the storms in terms of enjoyment; sped up it was still clearly audible and easy to follow; and the accents weren't necessary to the story, but the effort was appreciated.

This story continued to twist and turn throughout each minute. I constantly felt like I was trying to keep up and was surprised by the ending-which I didn't see coming at all. (In all fairness, I have a harder time predicting endings when listening because I miss elements.)

The entire story is VERY dark. The language, the actions, the topics...all of them are adult in nature and several parts made me squirm in discomfort. The dual (and dueling) MCs made for interesting characters.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: mental health/trauma, murder/gore/violence, gang rape, sex, alcohol, language, kidnapping, child danger, drugs

**Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial Audio for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

While I liked the concept, the author's writing style made this one difficult for me. I don't like when author's are overly detailed and verbose, but this was the extreme opposite. Everything felt short. I also did not care for the fact that everyone was called by their last name 95% of the time. For some reason, it made it harder for me to keep track of who was who- perhaps because you cannot infer gender? Or maybe it would have been less of an issue had I read it as opposed to listen to the audiobook? Not sure.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I liked this book. The story intrigued me. There were moments when I wasn’t sure how it was going to come together but it tied up at the end with a twist I should have seen coming but didn’t.