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MWSA Review
Murder Comes Home by Rosalie Spielman is a cozy mystery with all the elements required to fit the subgenre of crime fiction. Spielman’s story is characterized by a focus on suspense, misdirection, and an intriguing plot. She avoids graphic violence and profanity while setting the stage with two amateur sleuths, Aunt Edna and her niece, Army retiree Tessa Treslow.
The story takes place in the small, close-knit community of New Oslo, Idaho complete with quirky characters, including two elderly sisters, Ginny and Olive Prunn, who are good at local historical genealogies as well as noticing everything that goes on in New Oslo from their storefront windows.
As with most cozy mysteries, this one also has an underlying humorous tone that made me chuckle occasionally. The victim of the crime is not particularly likable, and many have a motive to want him out of the picture. Tessa and Edna focus on the complicated puzzle of solving the mystery and begin to uncover a tortured family history of the previous occupants of their home.
As the story unravels, author Spielman deftly intersperses believable red herrings to keep the reader guessing who the real culprit is. As with most cozy mysteries, this one is solved by Tessa and Edna in a satisfying and happy ending, restoring order and peace to New Oslo, Idaho. I enjoyed following the amateur sleuths on their journey to solve this crime.
Review by Nancy Panko (May 2025)
Author's Synopsis
Army retiree Tessa Treslow is as excited as the other residents of New Oslo, Idaho, when the cast and crew of the TV show Picks with Ricks comes to town! Tessa and her Aunt Edna put their car restoration business on hold to let the celebrity antique hunters pick through their old garage, hoping the trash contains a treasure that will help fund their new business. But it turns out that the pickers come with TV cameras, likeable stars, a stressed-out producer—and a murderer!
The show’s lead makes an insistent offer on one of Aunt Edna’s renovation projects and won’t take no for an answer. And when Tessa finds the show's cameraman dead in the restored 1965 Mustang, Tessa knows murder has come home yet again. And the mystery takes a very personal turn when the dead man is found with an antique inscribed pocket watch connected to the former owners of Aunt Edna's farmhouse. As Tessa digs into the history surrounding the pocket watch and the relationships of the TV crew, shocking details—both old and new—arise. Will Tessa be able to catch a killer...before they return for a repeat performance?
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller/Crime
Number of Pages: 283
Word Count: 76,000