The Dead Daughter was written by Thomas Fincham and published in 2017.You may purchase it at Amazon.com/Kindle. Visit the author on Amazon.
Can a father murder his only child?
Kyla Gardener’s dead body is found on her bed one early morning. She had been stabbed multiple times. Her father, Paul, has blood stains on his shirt and his fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. Paul has no memory of what happened.
Private Investigator Lee Callaway was also at the Gardener residence on the night of the murder. He had been following Kyla’s mother, Sharon, who was having an affair with her yoga instructor.
When all evidence points to Paul as the murderer, Callaway takes on the case to prove his innocence. As he searches for answers, he uncovers a web of lies, secrets, and deceit.
A good murder mystery is always a good go-to when searching for a captivating story to read. This one had a plot that peaked my interest over most other murder mystery scenarios. There are so many complicated layers to think of when considering that a family member would be involved in the murder of a very young woman- especially when it’s the victim’s father who is being fingered as the murderer. This is the kind of situation that would tear a family apart and when writing about these sort of circumstances, one can envision a lot of emotional upheaval and edge of your seat conflict.
The story picks up near the end, as the author managed to keep my eyes on the page, but the first ½ to ¾ of the book was a bit of a disappointment for me. The author had a tendency to over describe what each character was thinking and the dialogue was clipped and uninteresting. I have found that when an author engages his readers with interesting dialogue and has already laid out a good plot, which this one was, it should be left to the readers imagination, which would automatically fill in the thoughts of the characters. The characters had potential but they also fell a bit flat.
All in all, it was still an interesting murder mystery and the question comes to mind: What would push a father to kill his own daughter and did he?
I give The Dead Daughter 3 out of 5 stars.