The Beekeeper by Juliet Moore

First Novel in a Mystery Series

Earlier this week, I read the ebook version of The Beekeeper by Juliet Moore. The Beekeeper is the first novel in the Detective Elizabeth Stratton Mystery Series and it is also my first experiences with reading anything written by Juliet Moore. The Beekeeper is approximately 147 pages in length.

I downloaded The Beekeeper a couple of years ago to my Kindle for free from Amazon. The following is my unbiased review of The Beekeeper. 

I enjoyed reading The Beekeeper quite a bit. I like reading mystery novels where the leading character is a female cop and good at what she does... Elizabeth Stratton is a good female leading character and also a good detective. I like the fact that she isn't perfect, makes mistakes, but works hard to be the best detective she can be.

At the start of The Beekeeper, we met Elizabeth Stratton. She's on suspension from the police force and staying at the Roosevelt Hotel after a hurricane displaced her from her home. Elizabeth comes across the body of a dead woman covered in bees and mouth filled with honey in one of the hotel rooms on a floor of the hotel in need of renovation... She places a call to the police force and eventually lands back on the force to assist with the investigation of the murdered woman... Two more bodies of women murdered found with mouths filled with honey are discovered and it's soon realized a serial murderer is on the loose.

The Beekeeper is a nicely paced mystery novel. I liked the characters and the storyline. I liked the use/imagery of bees in this novel along with honey as part of the murderers killing ritual as it made for a unique read. The writing was decent as well.

Some things didn't seem plausible, like searching for the killer/suspect during a severe hurricane... Or Elizabeth Stratton starting a search without waiting for back up. Otherwise The Beekeeper was a good read. I also liked the red herrings in this novel as it left you guessing to whodunnit.

The following is a book summary of The Beekeeper from Amazon's site:

A trigger-happy young detective becomes immersed in a world of bees and mad honey in order to catch a murderer.

Miami homicide detective Elizabeth Stratton knows she's lucky to still have a job, but she's tired of only getting the easy cases. She'll never be able to regain the respect of her colleagues without a chance to prove she's no longer an anxious mess who shoots at anything that moves.

Her opportunity comes during a routine check at a near-abandoned hotel. While trying to save the living, she finds the dead. In the midst of a bee infestation is the body of a young woman, her mouth filled with honey.

Elizabeth is grudgingly allowed to keep the case, which rapidly becomes compelling when the honey is found to be poisonous and the bees follow her home.

But just when she's closing in on the killer, he targets her new friend and Elizabeth must brave the high winds of a category four hurricane to save her.

I'm giving The Beekeeper by Juliet Moore a rating of 7 stars out of 10 stars. Until my next post, happy reading!