The May Day Murders

by Scott Wittenburg

The autumnal tranquility of Smithtown, Ohio is shattered when Dr. David Bradley arrives home to find that his wife has been raped and murdered by an intruder who has left no clues behind except the words “May Day” painted in lipstick on his victim’s body. When the police later learn that another Smithtown resident has been raped and strangled in New York City, it becomes frighteningly clear that a cunning serial killer targeting Smithtown women is on the prowl. Newspaper reporter Sam Middleton is determined to help Detective Roger Hagstrom track down the assailant of his ex-wife’s best friend and everyone is asking the same question as the mystery Who will the killer’s next victim be?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Horror, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Ebooks

251 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2005

About the author

Scott has written twelve novels including his most recent, Guess Who's Next, Book 4 of the Alan Swansea Mystery Series. Other titles include the The Smithtown Project, The Wall, The May Day Murders Sequel, The May Day Murders, Greshmere, See Tom Run, Katherine's Prophecy and The Edge. Scott has also written two non fiction photography books including Built From Scratch: Adventures In X-ray Film Photography With A Homemade 11x14 View Camera and The Story Behind The Images. He is also host of the popular photography podcast, Photography 101.

Reviews

[Christopher Swenson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this book was bad. I read a lot of books (this was book 100 for me in 2011), this was by far not only the worst book I've read this year, but possibly the worse book I've ever read. Now you may be asking yourself "why did you finish it?"... well it was short and like a train wreck I just couldn't turn away from it... I kept thinking it had to get better... it never did. The characters are flat, the dialog is forced (think high school play), the "mystery" is easy it figure out, and wow were there some amazing logic leaps. That being said I think the worst part about this book was that there was only maybe 50 pages worth of story... the rest of it was rehashing what you had just read, for example Sam and Ann would fight for 15 pages... then Ann would call her friend Karen and rehash the entire fight for another 15 pages. Maybe his other books are better but I can not for the life of me figure out how this one got published.

[Cindy B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but intense plot with interesting cast. Profanity and sexual situations (rape, etc.) Descriptions can be disturbing and aren’t necessary for plot development.

Rated this through Amazon and they removed over half. I’ll come back to Goodreads - they don’t do that! 👍🏼

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The May Day Murders was utterly predictable with one-dimensional characters. I created an accurate profile of the murderer after the first murder (about a quarter of the way through the book) and predicted how the story would play out from there. I only kept reading to the end because I expected a twist (or two) to happen that would turn my expectations upside down. That never happened.

The characters were also unbelievable and simplistic. I just couldn't buy the motivations of any of the main characters.

[Brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a really shitty book. It's obvious the author has some sort of agenda of proving that women are suckered in by men and then other men need to save them. Then I read his response to a review of his book that was less than positive and he basically was a whiney little bitch just like the male characters in his story. It shouldn't be labeled a mystery novel. There isn't any mystery. You can figure out what is going to happen almost at the beginning of the book.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The murder, mystery takes you to a small town where a serial killer has hit, Ann Middleton has just lost her best friend to the murderer and her ex husband Scott is a reporter investigating the case. The reader is taken through a series of events as the investigation continues and also into the lives of Ann, Scott and their daughter Amy. I found this to be a compelling read with just the right combination of excitement to go along with the story.

[Barry Lillie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's quite a lot of superfluous waffle in this book that should have been edited out to make it a punchy novella rather than a dull mystery. The plot is as thin as a moths wing and the characters one-dimensional and lacking in any likeability. The writing is quite pedestrian and the dialogue stilted and unnatural. It was very easy to figure out the identity of the killer a third of the way in. Not a great read I'm afraid, I had to read it between other more interesting books as I have to absolutely hate a book to leave it unfinished.

[Maggie May · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull and predictable, I guessed the ending about a third the way in. The characters were uninteresting, and I didn't warm to any of them. The peeping tom teenager was a random addition but completely superfluous. Also the drunk cop - would he really be allowed to remain on duty having had a few drinks? I don't think so. It was badly written, badly edited and the twist? There wasn't one. Thank goodness it was free.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far i love this book, the story line is gripping and i feel as though i am watching criminal minds or special victims unit. really good book

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book although I had a pretty good idea how it would turn out about 1/2 way through it. Still worth the read.

[Jeanine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The editing mistakes annoyed me, but that could be in the transfer from book to e-book. It was disturbing. I read it in May because it's in the title. It was free on iBooks.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great so far. Suspence after every page.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A truly dreadful book. The premise was quite good but the heavy handed writing style meant that there was absolutely no suspense and, at times I was unsure of the genre the author was aiming for. Far to many irrelevant details and the murder was blatantly obvious as soon as he entered the story. I love crime thrillers but this book, had more romance than crime, unfinished and unnecessary sub plots such as a teenage daughter with a prowler and an inappropriate boyfriend and a cop with an alleged alcohol problem and absolutely no suspense.

[Taffy Rance · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reasonably good plot is let down by tedious and prosaic writing. The worst part is the dialogue which appears to be written by someone who has never heard living humans speak. The plot is driven forward in an agricultural manner with little style, imagination or creativity.

An ideal book for a holiday when you want to read something that doesn't tax you or detract from other activities. At least it didn't end up on my "Tried and failed" shelf.

[Lauren K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it was because I bought this book on my Nook and it was practically free, but I felt like I needed to highlight and make grammatical and spelling corrections. That issue aside, the plot was decent. It was a quick thrilling read, and the pages turned pretty quick. Cute happy ending too.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fab read

The storyline flowed effortlessly and I felt as though I knew the characters individually. I don't want to give the story away but it's a great crime meets murder mystery with a drunk cop and hid bestfriend the author . I gave it 5 🌟 as I thoroughly enjoyed it and I would highly recommended it .

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay...

This is the first time that I've read a book by this author. It was okay, but it didn't hold my interest throughout. I didn't care for the ending, but there is a sequel so it's possible that since the story continues that the second book is really good. I will read the second one eventually to see if I like that one better.

[Brittney Petroske · Rating 4 out of 5]

You really connect with the characters and feel for them. It kept you guessing and was a great read. It fell short for me by 1 star because the ending was too neatly wrapped for my taste. However, still a great read from start to finish.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was amazing. Even after figuring out who was the murderer early on I still loved the story, the characters and the way they interacted with each other. And the happy ending didn't hurt either.

[Darel Krieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an enjoyable read. Lots of twists and turns. Fairly good ending, I would recommend it.

[Tricia Cassavaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[PJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Tabatha Shipley · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I Did Like:
-It’s short. I didn’t think it rambled too much or dragged on plot points that didn’t need to be dragged on. It’s concise and gets to the point quickly.
-Set in the 90s. That was fun. A little nostalgia thrown in was cool.

Who Should Read This One:
-If you, maybe, don’t read a lot of mystery/thrillers you may like this one more than I did. You may not notice the predictable nature if you don’t read a lot.
-Honestly, I can give you better recs.

My Rating: 2 Stars. That’s the rating I reserve for problematic books, friends.

For Full Review (including what I didn’t love): https://youtu.be/L3ZGOSCEO_Y

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear lord, what a boring, predictable, and dumb story it was. I am so glad that's over and as much as I dreaded reading this I couldn't find anything worth noting. The title implied a murder, and yes, there were a couple of murders but that was maybe like 10% of the book. The other 90% of this story focused on the characters' drama. I was hoping there would be a twist in it somehow but 2/3 of the book in you knew who the murderer was, and all you had to do was wait until the police caught up with you. I always expect a twist when I read mysteries but I was very disappointed at how straight-forward it was. Luckily, this was a free nook book for me but I wouldn't recommend buying it. Borrow it from a library or a friend, it's not worth the money.

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a Free Friday nook book which needed some serious editing. Most of the errors were in spelling, but there were cases of strange phrasing and the like. Parts of it showed imagination and creativity. I would be reading along, and then become distracted by the glaring errors. Usually, I am gullible and cannot easily guess who the villain is--not in this case. The author seems to have a breast fetish, as he dwelt upon that part of his victim's anatomy. I will probably not seek out other books by Scott Wittenburg.

[Katy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was actually a pretty good thriller/mystery. Am giving only 4 out of 5 stars because of the (fewer than some books I've read, but still existant) editing issues. Then again, I doubt I'd have done any better and given that this was FREE, I'm not going to complain too much! There are several graphic/disturbing scenes depicted, but nothing I was really shocked by especially given the book's subject matter. Is it the best book ever written? No, not in my opinion, but it's also not the worst.

[Indigo · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOT EVEN Columbo. .
More like after school sitcom, the Dad being, the stupid David Hasselhoff and the Chick That he cheats with as Brittany Spears.
The Mom I see as Kelly Preston. Obviously so far out of David Hasselhoffs realm, (the stupid one in the book)

My favorite character is the DRUNK COP. He could be like John Malkovich.


Okay, okay, like the other commenter, It's Predictable.

[Kelly Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely predictable but I like that the main couple got back together. I read a lot of mysteries like these and they are almost the same...some pervert was screwed up In his childhood, seeks revenge for being rejected and someone in the book falls in love...it's a matter of imagination and enjoyment from each individual reader and author for that matter. I personally liked the story and would read another from this author..

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story. Another review said it was predictable, which it was a little because I worked out straight away who the man in the store was, but that didn't spoil it for me.
I think even predictable stories can make good reading.
I am looking forward to reading more from Mr Wittenburg.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok, but there are plenty of grammatical errors that should have been found and corrected before it was published. It was pretty predictable, not hard to figure out who the murderer was. Also seemed like the author was determined to make everything come out alright in the end. I won't spoil it, but you will see what I mean.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This turned out to be an "okay" book. It bogged down in details toward the middle of the book. By then you will have already figured out "whodunit" and the most likely reason for why. It picks up a little for the ending which makes the last one-third of the book go faster.

It was a free ebook so if you have nothing else to read, this will pass the time.