The Misled Mom: A Contemporary Small Town Sleuthing Couple Mystery

The Mercy and Justice Mysteries #18

by J.R. Mathis, Susan Mathis

Enjoy this contemporary small town sleuthing couple mystery.

When Miriam Conway is assaulted by a man she knows from the gym, Helen and the entire Myerton police force go in search of her attacker. Meanwhile Father Tom helps her deal with the emotional and spiritual fallout.

The Misled Mom is the eighteenth novel in the Mercy and Justice Mysteries, a contemporary small town mystery series. The series is a sequel to the Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer, a Catholic Priest who is also an amateur sleuth in the tradition of Father Brown, and his wife Helen Greer, female Chief of Police and detective in the tradition of Kinsey Millhone.

348 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

Susan Mathis was born in and grew up in an extremely small town in Alachua County, Florida where her family has lived for more than 100 years. When Susan was still very young, James (J.R) Mathis was born in a somewhat bigger small town about 100 miles south of where she lived. Within a decade, James' small town would become part of Orlando, the biggest tourist destination in the United States. He was not amused. That is how, while Susan was running barefoot, swimming in lakes full of alligators and feeding chickens, James was sitting in his bedroom reading books faster than his father could bring them home from the library.

Were James and Susan to write their love story, it would definitely be an enemies-to-lovers trope. They met in the library where he was working. He found her demands for books that he had to pull and bring to her so unreasonable that he actually turned her into the head librarian. She in turn was so anxious to drive him away that when some friends secretly set them up she laid out an entire speech about how miserable her life was (she is typically very upbeat). Little did she suspect that he had a passionate attraction to misery and they were married just over a year later.

Fast forward 26 years, three children, four grandchildren and 20 years of James working for the Federal government. He was diagnosed with a highly treatable but still very scary form of cancer. As so often happens, this brush with mortality inspired him to do something he’d always wanted to do, write a novel. After the publication of the second Father Tom Mystery, Susan joined him as coauthor. As far as the Mathises are concerned, writing together is the most fun a couple can have sitting at a computer.

Reviews

[Paula Corregan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another unputdownable Father Tom mystery. Miriam Conway, wife of Detective Dan Conway of the Merton Police Department, is assaulted by her boss, Clay Shaw, owner of the gym where she works. Later, two local women are found dead at their residences, the victims of an apparent serial killer. Do these murders have any connection to what happened to Miriam? Find out the answer to this question by reading this intriguing book, which I highly recommend to other cozy mystery readers. I received an ARC of this book, and the opinion expressed is strictly my own.

[Alihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great piece of writing and the plot line far darker than the title suggests. It is no ‘cozy’ but is a great read with no gratuitous detail. If you are reading the series then there are further developments in some of the minor characters in this novel that hint at future plot lines. This series delivers a satisfying read on so many levels. I recommend this and the previous in the series to you.

[Karen L. Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was an ARC reader and this is my honest opinion. I loved this book. The very first page had me hooked and I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy mysteries with interesting characters, you will love this book.

[MaryRobyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another sitting on the edge of my chair night!

This wss truly.one of the best books, in the series!
Its a fast read, and you know what that means. That's right, its the middle of the night and I can't stop reading it!