Mackenzie's Beat

Series #1

by Maggie Brown

Mac Griffith is used to risk and digging up dirty secrets in dangerous places, and this time it’s her twin that’s gone missing. Rachel Anderson wants no help from a war-shocked journalist—what police detective ever needs an amateur tagging along, especially a damnably attractive one?

But Brisbane is under siege and a serial killer’s body count is rising. With the clock ticking, no lead is too slim. Rachel needs Mac’s help, and there’s no chance Mac won’t take. Neither of them means for it to go as far as it does…

Genres: Lesbian, Crime, Femme Femme, LGBT, Romance

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2015

About the author

Born and bred in Queensland, Australia, Maggie Brown has always been an advocate for women’s rights. An avid reader, she only discovered lesbian literature ten years ago, which opened a whole new world to her. A long-term artist, she turned her hand to writing for a different challenge. It’s become her passion, and she now has eight books on the shelves, two of which were finalists in the Golden Crown Literary awards. Her novels vary from thrillers to romances. Maggie loves dotting her pages with lots of interesting characters, and writes about relationships with a humorous eye. When she’s not writing, she’s a golf hacker, card sharp and movie buff, and particularly likes to chill out at night with a glass of wine and a good book.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serial killer on the loose, blonde ladies turning up dead, war correspondent on the run with romance on the side... No, scratch that. Insta-love on the side. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the fast-paced crime story and trying to anticipate who the heck the killer was, kept me going and had me finished reading it within the day. What had me rolling my eyes was the insta-love which kind of blindsided me; from strangers to I-love-you-and-need-you-by-my-side. Like really??

Anyway... my take? 3.5 ⭐️ (7/10) 🙂

[Tiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serial killer is on the loose. He is targeting young blond women. Yikes! Mackenzie’s Beat by Maggie Brown is a fast paced crime story with a side of romance.

Mackenzie “Mac” Griffith is a war correspondent. She has spent the last ten years traveling the world seeing and reporting on unspeakable horrors. Mac is known for speaking the truth and never letting government’s get away with anything by looking the other way. Currently she has pissed off a government official in Afghanistan, and the police are under orders to bring her back to Kabul over an article she wrote. Another problem for Mac is as she arrived in Brisbane to reconnect with her twin sister, Dana. The only problem is Dana is missing and no one can seem to locate her.

Detective Rachel Anderson is searching for clues. Why do blond prostitutes keep turning up dead? This hard-nosed cop operates strictly by the book, she is the job. She has no time for games, and she is super annoyed when Mac keeps showing up is the most peculiar locations, even the morgue!

This book for the first 30% was fantastic! It was interesting in regards to Mac and her past, throw in a missing persons and a no-nonsense cop we had the makings of a great story. Literally the works were flying off the page and I couldn’t get enough. Then it jumped the shark. Reality turned it to pure unbelievable chaos. The story became so unrealistic! I wanted to yell COME ON!

One big problem is how quickly Rachel and Mac fall into love and declare it. You go from two women who have dedicated their lives to their work to gooey I need you, why didn’t you call me on my cell phone mush balls. No, I just didn’t buy it! Plus we have a serial killer on the loose and your sister is missing (she’s blond PS)! Now I get that this is a romance but seriously is has to be somewhat of authentic human reactions. Their reactions to love did not fit how the characters were originally presented.

Overall a nice story and I enjoyed it. I like how Maggie Brown writes and I have been pleased with her book thus far. I don’t think you will be disappointed with this one but you may have to let your imagination fly a little bit.

[Laure · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell was that ???

The typos (always there and too numerous) were the least of my concern in there ...
The plot including a serial killer on the loose, a missing twin & a war correspondent on the run seemed good ... but it became a total nonsense pretty quickly.
It’s the fifth book by Maggie Brown I read. The first one was "I Can’t Dance Alone" …. And I didn’t like it because it didn’t make sense (one of the MC, with no experience at all in the bush since she was a city mouse, was able not only to survive in the wilderness but also to save someone else … Nice try but totally irrealistic) and there was this very irritating "bloody" speech mannerism … But I wanted to give this author another try. Why ??? Because I don’t like to stay on a deception and judge the author’s entire work based on one reading only and also because I love Aussie set novels … So I've read more pieces of her work and I've more or less appreciated the 3 novels by this author I've read recently but this one, "Mackenzie's Beat", damn, that's one of the worst cop stories I've read ...

I was seriously tempted to DNF this novel more than once but I kept reading because I really wanted to know more about the killer, his motivations (and what made him act ... what really was the trigger, did his lesbian and seemingly abusive mom died recently ??? ) , the police work to find this psycho and the way the seasonned journalist would have help the seasonned cop resolve the mystery but I wasted my time ... The story doesn't make any sense since there's no real suspense and no real police work (as a matter of fact, from my POV, the entire Brisbane police department appear to be a bunch of total incompetent jerks in this book,not sure the real cops in Brisbane would appreciate)

And the romance... That's not even one ... That's just insta-love and it made the MCs go from total strangers to "I-love-you-and-need-you-by-my-side-until-I'm-on-my-deathbed" in less than (seemingly) a month ... YUK !!!

I still have one of Maggie Brown's book in my own library but I think I'll take a break from this author, I'm too disappointed for the time being ..

[Velvet Lounger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fast paced Detective story based in Australia with a great cast and non stop action.

Mac Griffith wants to find her twin sister; Detective Rachel Anderson is hunting a serial killer, and their paths quickly cross and become entwined in the chase for the elusive man with yellow eyes.

it’s a well don’t detective story, exciting and interesting, a classic page turner. The plot uses well-established crime drama mechanisms to keep the story moving along, taunting serial killer, heroines being threatened and the gradual revel. A good story well done.

The main characters are strong, independent hard nosed women, the war reporter and the tough cop. They are joined by a good cast, particularly Mac’s supporting investigators made up from residents of a local assisted living community.

Where it fails, badly, is in an completely unrealistic and far-fetched romance. These strong independent women, unromantic, realists, fall so hard and fast they are declaring their love the second time they meet and are unable to keep their hands off each other. Love at first sight may be possible, but these are drawn as hard-nosed professional women and their behavior does not fit their characters.

It’as a good story, well written and enjoyable reading. If you like crime/thrillers you should enjoy it, but you will need to suspend disbelief for the romance. More of a slow burn, a gradual coming together and developing feelings would have turned this from a good story into a great book.

[Nolly Frances Sepulveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it so much that I read it in a few hours. The characters of Mackenzie and Rachel called to me and the anticipation of what the Stranglers next move would be kept me glued to the book page by page. A plus for Ms Brown

[Weetniet7]

I did like the crime part of this story other than that...
I don’t see the chemistry between the two main characters. There is some contradictory storystelling when they first lay eyes on each other.
And when the murders are solved there’s some unnecessary “angst”.
I did love the older side characters. Added a bit of “murder she wrote” feel to it.
In a nutshell: if you want to read this for the crime solving: 👍🏻 If you want to read a book about a blossoming love between two ladies: 😕

[Mirtha Siblesz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story!

Wow this was a very suspenseful story! It grabs you practically from the start to the end! Rachel and Mac were very well developed characters that gelled well together. The supporting characters Liz and George were adorable and I loved the way their story ended. Really liked this story!

[Frankie · Rating 2 out of 5]

so casually racist and blue-loving you’d think it was american! i think i understand the term “beach read” now

[Kirian · Rating 2 out of 5]

It beguns interesting: investigating journalist, a missing twin, a serial killer, nice elderly neighbours and a cop who wants to catch them.

Then it turns into something strange:

- somehow the investigating journalist wants to leave after twin found dead
- the eldery neighbours have better ideas looking for the killer, than the cops
- the cops are terrible at doing their job
- the investigating journalist is a wanted person, because she wrote about a corrput foreign politican in a foreign country. Ok, the goverment wants to make some deal with said country, and said politican is an important person to do that, but I just can't think why it issues a warrent to arrest the journalist.

Did I mention that the cops are terrible at their joubs?! I mean the cop MC want to f**k before she wants to know about the rifle of the killer...

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another page turner from the author, and another good paced read with plenty of drama to keep you turning those pages. However, I did feel that I had read some of the same emotional character driven angst in her debut novel Can't dance alone. I did feel that I was treading over old ground with some of it and felt it made the characters a little predicable. I must state however, that I did read her previous book only days before reading this one, so it was still very fresh in my mind.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great book. It was exciting and tense and kept me interested the whole book. Mackenzie Griffith comes to Brisbane to find her twin sister. Instead she finds a serial killer. Touching love interest with detective Rachel.

[Nadz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75. The writing is excellent as ever. (Spoiler starts) But....my one true issue how the death was handled. It felt quite rushed and was not handled well. It reads very cold like it didn’t matter. I tried looking past it but just can’t. Nevertheless an easy easy read