About the Author
Greg Messel grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and now lives in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound with is wife, Carol. Fog City Strangler is his seventh novel and is the fourth in a new series of Same Slater mystery novels. Greg has lived in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Utah and has always loved writing, including stints as a reporter, columnist and news editor for a daily newspaper.
Follow news about Messel’s writings and book at his website. Connect with him socially on his Twitter and Facebook.
Book Information
Fog City Strangler by Greg Messel
Publication Date: December 26, 2013
Genre: Mystery/Romance
Purchase: Amazon
Book Description
“As 1958 nears an end San Francisco is being terrorized by a man who calls himself the “Fog City Strangler,” who preys on pretty young blonde women. The strangler announces each murder by sending a note and piece of the victim’s clothing to the local newspapers.
Angst mounts as the strangler continues to claim more victims. Private eye Sam Slater is worried that the Fog City Strangler may be eyeing his beautiful blonde wife, TWA stewardess Amelia Ryan. His anxiety is further fueled when TWA launches an advertising campaign with Amelia’s picture on a series of billboards plastered all over the city. Sam fears the billboards may attract too much attention — the wrong kind of attention.
Meanwhile, Sam and Amelia are hired to try to find the missing daughter of a wealthy dowager who fears she has lost her only child. The missing woman went for a walk with her dog on Stinson Beach, near San Francisco, and seemingly vanished into thin air. The woman’s husband arrived at their beach house and found the dog running loose but there was no trace of his wife. The police are stumped in their investigation.
As Sam and Amelia look into the disappearance of the woman on the beach they discover that nothing is as it seems at first glance. On a stormy night a shadowy figure sets fire to the beach house where the couple is staying–hoping to stop their investigation.”
My Review
Before I start my review of this book I should mention that this book is part of a series featuring the two main characters, Sam and Amelia. However, while this book is part of a series it could also be a stand alone novel. There are a few things that are mentioned about Sam and Amelia’s early relationship that readers of the series will nod their heads at, but it doesn’t leave new readers feeling lost and behind. With that out there let’s jump into the review.
I finished this book in one day, that’s how great this book was! The story had a nice flow to it and while Sam and Amelia windup working three cases it never feels like to much or gets confusing. The story starts with the Fog City Strangler terrorizing San Francisco’s blonde women. Several of Sam Slater’s friends remind him that he needs to keep his wife safe, a thought that he has had plenty of times. However, her job, a stewardess with TWA, doesn’t make it an easy task for him when they start putting billboards up all over San Francisco of his wife, who is of course a blonde. Meanwhile, Sam takes on the case of Regina Mitchell whose daughter has gone missing. Regina’s daughter, Jennifer, went to their beach house to await the arrival of her husband on Labor Day Weekend. When he arrived that Monday there were dishes on the counter, the door was unlocked, and the dog was wondering around on the beach but Jennifer was nowhere to be found. The police search for two months with no clues so Regina seeks out Sam and Amelia to help her get some answers.
Both cases take some serious twists and turns but they never leave the reader behind. Also, the twists and turns all seem plausible and aren’t just there for shock value or filler. The way that all of these cases are wrapped up will leave the reader in shock and wanting more of the Sam and Amelia duo. I did have two complaints about the story the first being that there were a few typos that did affect the way the sentence flowed (if instead of of). The second complaint is that each chapter has a header that includes the title of the chapter and the date the chapter takes place on. There are a couple of places where the date is actually wrong based on the timeline of the story (this is more of a nitpicky complaint in all honesty. Again I really enjoyed this book, actually I enjoyed it so much that I can’t wait for the Fall 2014 release of the next Sam Slater Mystery so I’ll be checking out the other Sam Slater novels; Last of the Seals, Deadly Plunge, San Francisco Secrets.
Rating
5 out of 5
This sounds like a book that my husband would really enjoy. He takes the train in & out of Boston to work everyday and blows through a ton of books a month.
I love mysteries like this! I try to see if I can figure it out before the story unfolds. So fun!
Sounds like a great book! I love that it’s set in the 50s and it’s mysterious! I’m in the middle of Cruel Beauty (Elle Fowler just did a review on it) and I’m pretty meh about it.
Wow Cassie, lovely review! Thank you!
Ooh this sounds like a good one! I’m always a huge fan of mystery/suspense type novels!
My husband likes books like this – mysteries with a little period detail.
i do love a good mystery read!! i’m almost finished with my latest series, too
Looks like s great read! I love books that pull you in and have to be read in a day!
Thanks for your review on this book! It sounds like the story is a really good one but the publishing company needed a better proofreader. I hate when I see typos in a novel, also!
This book is based in the time period that I love. Glad you weren’t able to put it down. I should add this one to my reading list. Thanks!
This sounds really good! I love when books have great twists that aren’t super predictable.
I love mystery books, and this sounds right up my alley! Not too much blood and gore but just enough mystery to keep me on the edge of my seat. Thanks for sharing, I will have to see if they have this at my library and if not, suggest it!
I LOVE a good mystery book! I’ll definitely be checking this out.
I love a good mystery book! This one sounds pretty good too. Makes me want to check out other books in the series too.
I love mysteries. I’m putting this on my tbr list.
Sounds like a book I would be interested in. I love these kinds of books!
I enjoy reading a good mystery/romance. Thanks for sharing this!
Your review makes me think of Mary Higgins Clark, one of my favorite authors! I love when there is suspense yet not so much that you can’t follow along. Adding this book to my Kindle now!
I am a big reader. This sounds like a book I would enjoy! I will have to check it out.
Sounds like a wonderful book. I am tempted to read it now!!
This sounds like an intriguing book. I get freaked out easily by mysteries, but I’ll pass this along to my mom – she loves them!
This looks like a good read. I love mystery books so this sounds like a great story.
I don’t really make time to read anything other than storybooks fit for a toddler. But it sounds like you really enjoyed this read!
I love a good book, this one seems pretty interesting . Thanks for sharing and i hope to check it out soon.
This book sounds like a real nail biter, and if you finished it in a day, it really must be. I love books that keep you wondering what’s going to happen. This sounds like a great one!
I’ve never heard of this book before. It sounds very suspenseful!
This book looks AWESOME!
I love these kinds of books. Thanks for sharing!
I really get excited when I find a book that literally pulls me in and won’t let go of me until I’ve finished it all! This sounds like one of those books!
Definitely sounds like the type of book i could quickly devour!
that sounds like a good book. I’ll have to see if I can download it.
Fog City Strangler sounds like a pretty great book! The fact that you finished in one day proves that it held your attention! Thanks for sharing your review.
This sounds like a great book! I’m going to have to check it out!
Sounds like an interesting book. I LOVE San Francisco…
This looks good. The typos would kill my reading flow though.
book tours are always fun and this sounds like a great read!
Thanks for your interest. I think you’ll like the suspense and mystery in Fog City Strangler. I agree with the comments from several of you–it’s a really interesting time period. Thanks for the review.