Dead End

Rating:
Summary: Judith Skillings is awesome! Dead End is only the beginning
Review: April 2004
This is a review of the author.. Not the book! I had the honor of meeting this wonderful lady and her husband today here in the small town of Oil City. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of DEAD END, and am anxious to start reading tonight. If the book is equal to the author, I know I will be very happy! I will do another review once I have finished! (the other reviews here are very positive, so I am excited to get started!) Best of everything to you, Judith!! One of your first of many many fans! Neal Williams - [e-mail] Sorry it took so long to update this!!
Update Sept. 14, 04 --- Dead End is only the beginning!!, September 14, 2004 Reviewer: Neal Williams I couldn't put this book down! I am very anxious for the next book due for release early next year! Judith, it was great to see you and your husband at the book signing, and thank you for reading a bit from the next book! Glad to see that some of your characters (the one's who made it through DEAD END alive) are showing up again! You have to come back and do a signing for the next one!! This book would make a great movie!! And thanks for explaining how you got the idea for the glass beader and for describing it! The book is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Rating:
Summary: Great mystery
Review: As a DC area crime reporter, Rebecca Moore uncovers a crime story in a brokerage house. When she has enough substantiation, she turns the evidence over to the SEC, knowing she'll have a juicy story after they finish their investigation. Rebecca tells her lover David about the SEC investigation because he works in the firm that is being investigated never realizing he is the person embezzling funds. He commits suicide in Rebecca's home.

When Rebecca becomes part of the story, she escapes to Head Tide, Maryland and the Vintage and Classic's car businesses she inherited from her uncle. When she opens up the store at the beginning of the work week, she finds the naked body of Graham Stock, Rebecca's business rival. The sheriff believes either Rebecca or one of her employees, mostly ex-cons, is responsible. Washington D.C. detective Mick Hagan, who feels guilty over David's death, is in town and is asked by the local sheriff to help in the investigation and he agrees. More dangerous and even deadlier crimes follow like arson and another homicide. To learn the truth, Rebecca puts her own life in danger from a killer who wants something she doesn't even know she has.

Every once in a while a mystery author comes along that is so talented that the reader knows she has a great future ahead of her. Judith Skillings fits that bill. She has written a fabulous who-done-it that is rich in characterizations and is well plotted. Although Rebecca and Mick never kiss or ever touch, the sexual tension between them is so strong that readers feel the sparks jumping of the pages. There is a plethora of suspects so that it is almost impossible to figure out who the perpetrator is.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Great mystery
Review: As a DC area crime reporter, Rebecca Moore uncovers a crime story in a brokerage house. When she has enough substantiation, she turns the evidence over to the SEC, knowing she'll have a juicy story after they finish their investigation. Rebecca tells her lover David about the SEC investigation because he works in the firm that is being investigated never realizing he is the person embezzling funds. He commits suicide in Rebecca's home.

When Rebecca becomes part of the story, she escapes to Head Tide, Maryland and the Vintage and Classic's car businesses she inherited from her uncle. When she opens up the store at the beginning of the work week, she finds the naked body of Graham Stock, Rebecca's business rival. The sheriff believes either Rebecca or one of her employees, mostly ex-cons, is responsible. Washington D.C. detective Mick Hagan, who feels guilty over David's death, is in town and is asked by the local sheriff to help in the investigation and he agrees. More dangerous and even deadlier crimes follow like arson and another homicide. To learn the truth, Rebecca puts her own life in danger from a killer who wants something she doesn't even know she has.

Every once in a while a mystery author comes along that is so talented that the reader knows she has a great future ahead of her. Judith Skillings fits that bill. She has written a fabulous who-done-it that is rich in characterizations and is well plotted. Although Rebecca and Mick never kiss or ever touch, the sexual tension between them is so strong that readers feel the sparks jumping of the pages. There is a plethora of suspects so that it is almost impossible to figure out who the perpetrator is.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Vintage cars and murder
Review: Rebecca Moore finds a naked dead man in the glass beader in her classic automobile repair shop Vintage and Classics. To complicate matters more, the dead man was Graham Stuck, the owner of Capitol Chassis - the competition.

Rebecca inherited the shop from her Uncle Walt. He had hired ex-cons and Rebecca and not changed a thing. They were great. Unfortunately Frank Lewes, her head man, becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of Sheriff Bradley Zimmer. Then a DC detective, Mick Hagan, appears out of nowhere. Rebecca can't figure out what he's doing in Head Tide, Maryland. When he starts assisting the sheriff, she is even more baffled.

Her ex-lover, David, had recently killed himself. She had left her journalism job at the Post to run the V&C. When Hagan mentions David, she cannot figure out what his tie-in is. David had killed himself when she was uncovering investor corruption.

She goes to pay her condolences to Vera Stuck, the widow. She talks in circles and isn't too sure what she was trying to tell her.

Rebecca hires Joachim Delacroix to defend her and the ex-cons should they need it. He ends up helping her try to solve the murder. In the meantime, they are trying to get the sheriff to keep her shop open so they can get Hal Lindeman's Hisso and Todd Shelley's Bentley ready in six days to ship to Paris for the Paris-Peking race.

This is a great mystery set in a vintage car shop. I am not a car fan, but I found this to be a very entertaining and enjoyable read. It is also a fast read. She has a great start to what I hope to be a long series.

Rebecca is a well-written character. I like the tension between her and Mick. The ex-cons lend a real diversity to the story. I like the setting near DC as I know a lot of the areas that she mentions.

My only complaint was that it takes Rebecca too long to remember a key piece of evidence.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading many more in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage cars and murder
Review: Rebecca Moore finds a naked dead man in the glass beader in her classic automobile repair shop Vintage and Classics. To complicate matters more, the dead man was Graham Stuck, the owner of Capitol Chassis - the competition.

Rebecca inherited the shop from her Uncle Walt. He had hired ex-cons and Rebecca and not changed a thing. They were great. Unfortunately Frank Lewes, her head man, becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of Sheriff Bradley Zimmer. Then a DC detective, Mick Hagan, appears out of nowhere. Rebecca can't figure out what he's doing in Head Tide, Maryland. When he starts assisting the sheriff, she is even more baffled.

Her ex-lover, David, had recently killed himself. She had left her journalism job at the Post to run the V&C. When Hagan mentions David, she cannot figure out what his tie-in is. David had killed himself when she was uncovering investor corruption.

She goes to pay her condolences to Vera Stuck, the widow. She talks in circles and isn't too sure what she was trying to tell her.

Rebecca hires Joachim Delacroix to defend her and the ex-cons should they need it. He ends up helping her try to solve the murder. In the meantime, they are trying to get the sheriff to keep her shop open so they can get Hal Lindeman's Hisso and Todd Shelley's Bentley ready in six days to ship to Paris for the Paris-Peking race.

This is a great mystery set in a vintage car shop. I am not a car fan, but I found this to be a very entertaining and enjoyable read. It is also a fast read. She has a great start to what I hope to be a long series.

Rebecca is a well-written character. I like the tension between her and Mick. The ex-cons lend a real diversity to the story. I like the setting near DC as I know a lot of the areas that she mentions.

My only complaint was that it takes Rebecca too long to remember a key piece of evidence.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading many more in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent novel.
Review: Rebecca Moore used to be a reporter in the D.C. area. However, Rebecca became part of one of her own scoops and her boyfriend, David, committed suicide in her home. Rebecca quit her job and fled to rural Maryland for a fresh start. Rebecca began running her late Uncle Walt's classic automobile restoration shop. (Her employees were all reformed ex-convicts, so the story has an array of colorful characters within it.) Yet as Rebecca opened the shop one morning she found a male corpse stuffed into a glass beading machine. Worse, the corpse happened to be her business competitor, which made Rebecca the prime suspect.

Now enter a Washington D.C. detective, Michael "Mick" Hagan, who happened to be on vacation in town. The local sheriff asked for Mick's help to solve the crime.

**** Great novel. I found it to be a wonderful way to spend a rainy weekend. Recommended reading. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Judith Skillings is an awesome lady!
Review: This is a review of the author.. Not the book! I had the honor of meeting this wonderful lady and her husband today here in the small town of Oil City. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of DEAD END, and am anxious to start reading tonight. If the book is equal to the author, I know I will be very happy! I will do another review once I have finished! (the other reviews here are very positive, so I am excited to get started!) Best of everything to you, Judith!! One of your first of many many fans! Neal Williams - [e-mail]