Author: Laurel Dewey

I discovered this author via Daily Lit during the ReadAThon. Since I don't have a lot of time to read, I decided to try a couple of short stories. I read An Unfinished Death and You Can't Judge a Book By it's Cover, both by Laurel Dewey. Beginning in October 2009, Laurel Dewey is publishing five short works featuring Jane Perry. These are the first two of these five.

These stories reminded me of how much I enjoy the mystery genre. An Unfinished Death follows Detective Jane Perry as she solves a crime using information that she garners from visits with the deceased. When I read the description, I was sure that I would find this lame (for lack of a better word), but I really enjoyed this short story. Honestly, I found the resolution predictable, but I enjoyed how information from the deceased effected her personal life.

You Can't Judge a Book was set up a blog entry by Perry. In truth, this was far too long to be a blog entry, but it was a nice short story. Perry meets an emotionally disturbed child how guides her in solving an unknown crime.

I enjoyed both of these short stories so much that I plan to add Dewey's novels featuring this character to my holiday reading list. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Perry's faulted character and her gruff nature.