Lucinda Pierce Mystery series

Last updated
Twisted Reason
Twisted Reason novel.jpg
Author Diane Fanning
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
Publisher Severn House
Publication date
2011
Pages223
ISBN 978-0-7278-6945-6

The Lucinda Pierce Mystery series is a book series written by American non-fiction author and novelist Diane Fanning, debuted in 2008 with The Trophy Exchange. The four-part series, released by Severn House in the UK and US, features Virginia Homicide Detective Lucinda Pierce as she follows the evidence and investigates murders. Known for her non-fiction true crime books, Publishers Weekly described the series as "double duty for Fanning." [1]

Contents

Publishers Weekly, in a later review of Twisted Reason, fourth in the series, wrote, "Edgar-finalist Fanning skillfully illuminates the heartbreaking challenges facing Alzheimer’s victims and their families in her fourth mystery featuring Virginia homicide detective Lucinda Pierce." [2] Also with the release of Twisted Reason, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung newspaper wrote, because Alzheimer's was something the author had witnessed first-hand with her father and father-in-law, "When New Braunfels author Diane Fanning wrote Twisted Reason, the fourth in the Lucinda Pierce mystery series, she cried as she wrote certain passages." [3]

Plot summaries

The Trophy Exchange

In the first of the series, life’s been rough for Lieutenant Lucinda Pierce. She lost an eye and disfigured her face responding to a domestic violence call. Now, she's up against a serial killer, and her main suspect is a respected doctor known for his international relief work. It's a good thing Pierce doesn't mind bending the rules. [4]

Punish the Deed

A mutilated body is found sprawled on an office kitchen's floor. Beside it a note read: "I was left behind." Homicide Detective Lucinda Pierce chases a killer whose targets are heads of nonprofit agencies. No good deed goes unpunished. [5]

Mistaken Identity

In a suburban home, a woman’s body is carefully laid out on a bed. In the bathroom, a male corpse is missing both its head and its hands. When the victims’ 13-year-old son claims his father is immortal, Lieutenant Pierce suspects that the family has something to hide. [6]

Twisted Reason

A missing elderly man with Alzheimers shows up dead on his son’s front porch, leading homicide detective Lucinda Pierce to a man who did all the wrong things for all the right reasons and to a strange little Wonderland built with a little money and much imagination. [7]

False Front

When Candace Eagleton is murdered after her marriage is revealed to be a scam, Lucinda Pierce vows to catch the killer. [8]

Wrong Turn

When the body of Emily Sherman is found in the basement of a serial killer, Homicide Detective Lucinda Pierce must go back to the original case to right the wrong she did years ago. [9]

Chain Reaction

Lucinda Pierce comes face-to-face with terrorism when she is called out to the site of a bomb blast at a local high school. [10]

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews' 2008 review of The Trophy Exchange described author Fanning as producing "an exciting, emotionally intense story with a complex heroine whose future adventures will be widely anticipated." [11]

Kirkus wrote in 2010 when Punish the Deed was released that Lucinda "is such a strong heroine that she should engage many readers." [12]

For Twisted Reason, Kirkus wrote, "As usual, Fanning poses Lucinda a quirky mystery, this time providing a thoughtful look at the stress of those caring for loved ones with dementia." [13]

Library Journal , in its review of Twisted Reason, said that "true crime author Fanning brings a rare brand of realism to her work." [14]

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