Title: Murder With Deceit
Subtitle: A John Stone Mystery
Author: Winnfred Smith
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing
Pages: 384
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Crime
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Hollywood Book Reviews
This is the third novel in Winnfred Smith’s series featuring John Stone. Stone is a different kind of detective. He does most of his detection for his friends who need help in one way or another. But detecting isn’t all he does. He also happens to own and oversee a technology-consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia that services clients in many different parts of the world. This gives him access to things such as a private airplane and seemingly endless amounts of cash, making him decidedly different from most of the gumshoes one is likely to encounter between the pages of private eye potboilers. One other thing that makes him different from all those other classically cynical shamuses is that he’s actually one of the world’s most considerate and nicest guys. Yes, he’s a rich man with a good heart and a friendly personality to boot. Now that’s a different kind of detective, and this is a decidedly different kind of detective novel.
The story begins when Stone happens to see a woman on the street in Atlanta that he is immediately smitten with. In both looks and style, she reminds him of former actress and Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly. He simply can’t let her get away. So he begins a conversation with her and winds up inviting her to dinner at any restaurant of her choosing. She happens to choose one that’s in Paris. That’s right—Paris, France. Before you know it, Stone is whisking the woman, her mother, her sister, and her sister’s friend to the City of Lights. It seems that both Stone, and the woman’s family, share the acquaintance of the restaurateur who runs the pre-destined eatery in the fabled city. That’s the beginning of a number of coincidences which lead to an intricately involved plot. It seems that the woman’s father was killed in an automobile accident seven years prior. The car exploded and he was burned so badly that his body had actually never been properly identified. The more this story is recounted to Stone, the more he becomes convinced that everything may not be as it seems. Particularly, since the seemingly deceased father was an ex-FBI man who worked for a private security firm that was less than transparent when filling the family in on the dead man’s work.
Stone and the young woman begin their own investigation into what really happened to her father and why. Along the way, they become involved with a French family whose head-of-household was also employed by the security firm and supposedly died in a mysterious way as well. Soon, they’re in the middle of a kidnapping, gun battles, mayhem and more. As additional information is uncovered, startling revelations are brought to light. Before it’s all done, paths will be crossed with smugglers, assassins, and a coterie of characters harboring one secret after another.
Smith moves his story along smartly, giving as much space, if not more, to the relationship between Stone and the woman as he does to the unfolding plot. Will the sometimes-sleuth and the alluring female wind up in a long-term relationship, or is this hunt for answers to be their single excursion together? Was the father’s car crash an accident or something more sinister? Is Paris to be the sticking place for one or all of the participants, or are all destined to return to Georgia? Answers are provided as loose ends are tied.
Smith keeps the overall tone light and playful, blending romance and intrigue with a heavy dose of warmth and good-natured tête-à-tête. If you’re looking for a truly out-of-the-ordinary mystery, you just might want to look into Murder With Deceit.