Murder Audit

Cynthia Webber #1

by Michelle Cornish

With twists and turns at every corner, this fast-paced thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat! Widow and single parent Cynthia Webber never expected to uncover a dead body during a routine financial audit. But when she does, her life is turned upside down. Her boss threatens her, her job is on the line, and she's left alone and unjustly dismissed when she goes to the police. Desperate to clear her name, Cynthia turns to her best friend Linda, an investigative reporter, for help. As they dig deeper, they uncover a dangerous conspiracy involving a prestigious Calgary pipeline company and a well-known environmental activist's murder. Written in Canadian English, this gripping read contains profanity, sex, and violence. Murder Audit is a must-read for fans of suspenseful mysteries and thrillers.

Genres: Mystery

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2020

About the author

Michelle Cornish is an author-illustrator, crafting the kinds of stories she loves to read--complex characters, a dash of romance, and plenty of mystery and intrigue. Her specialty? Strong women in sticky situations! To learn about deals and new releases, follow Michelle on BookBub by clicking here. Find a selection of Michelle's books free at this link.

Reviews

[Clive Gerrard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read previous reviews, I was quite looking forward to reading this. Sadly, it nowhere near reached the hype written previously. It started well enough. Environmentalists trying to stop a pipeline across the plains of Canada, but after a couple of chapters it went downhill quickly before plummeting into an abyssal maelstrom of mediocrity. The plot is like a watery soup: thin, transparent and ultimately unfulfilling. There is little in the way of adjectival phraseology that engages the reader either into the plot or to create an empathy with any of the main characters. Indeed, the characters are shallow and laughably two-dimensional, but not in a good way!

The quality of the writing is at best naive and at worst infantile. The author over-uses proper nouns, I counted seven on one page [of an electronic book]. Did she not think of using personal pronouns once in a while? Also the repetition of the relationship of one character to another became frustratingly tiresome.

*note to author - We [the readers] are not suffering from some form of degenerative memory syndrome. We know that Linda is a tv reporter, Ben is a colleague, Gayle is her mother, etc. We do not need constant reminding every chapter, thank you.
And finally, what happened to April? Was she charged? or Gord? and the D &A accounting firm, in general? And IMPORTANTLY what about the pipeline that the book is supposedly based around? Was it built cancelled or did you forget about them?

I gave it two stars ... and frankly, I'm being very generous

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a routine visit to audit a business running a pipeline, but the call is by no means ordinary. Cynthia Webber, an accountant intern with a large company, finds herself trapped in intrigue after finding a dead body on-site at her remote workplace. Threatened and then fired by her boss, Cynthia will have to rely on the help of her good friends to get to the bottom of her troubles.

This thriller had its moments and there were times when I found myself completely involved in the story. I did feel that the flow needed to be tightened as some plot points felt belaboured. The "spicy" parts felt unnecessary. The uniqueness of the main character's relationship to the situation really caught my attention - it's not often that an accountant plays a starring role.

As with most thrillers, there's content that's not appropriate for young readers: profanity, violence, and the hint of sexual activity.

[P.J. Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is very exciting, with unusual twists and turns throughout. I is a real page-turner, and I can't wait for the next Cynthia Webber sequel.

[M.L. Carrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read murder story

Well-written, this story has many short chapters making it an easy read especially for someone with small increments of time for reading. If you like murder stories in which the female protagonist becomes a civilian detective helping to solve the murder mystery, you'll love this book!

[Sue Bridgwater · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the sort of book you only bother to finish when December is rushing by and you would like to reach your Goodreads Challenge goal. Singularly dull and clumsily written, with a potentially decent plot mishandled. No depth of characterisation at all.

[Pascal Ringoot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too bad until almost halfway, but from there on unbelievable story. Too smooth to be real, like a children's storybook.
Recommendable? Negative! Two stars is certainly enough.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Cornish's debut book Murder Audit was a pleasant surprise. I found the characters refreshing, the subplots interesting and well woven together, and the story gripping.

Unlike other murder mysteries, this book features an accountant which seems like an unlikely choice but it actually works. In many mysteries, often, the way to find the killer is to follow the money. Since our society is hinged on online transactions, keeping tabs on where the money goes tends to be an easy way to track down criminals.

But the above is not what makes Murder Audit so interesting. It's that readers are left with a story that grips them because it addresses the real world pipeline issue, the fact that people are often careless with their purchases, and showcases characters that don't immediately and irrationally jump to illegal methods of getting 'the bad guys.'

There were a few things that struck me as interesting choices. For the record, when I say interesting, I don't mean bad.

- First was the dollar value stolen. And I realize that not everyone will understand why that was an interesting choice. Perhaps the author chose that value deliberately.

- Second, I enjoyed that Michelle used a relevant topic such as Canada's current pipeline controversy to show the different sides of an issue.

- Third, I found it interesting that Cynthia Webber does not tackle the situation as other mystery books tend to. Often the protagonist is proactive to the point of being a hindrance (like breaking into houses, stealing evidence, following the murderer with little regard for their own life, etc...) Instead, Cynthia knows her limitations and doesn't act out of character. She doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. She just does what she can to help her family, she uses her resources wisely, and comes up with intelligent solutions even after going through shock. Yes, Cynthia does do certain things that are questionable but that's part of her charm. The character doesn't automatically throw away her morals. This singlehandedly made me appreciate Murder Audit so much more than other titles in the same genre.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and think anyone who enjoys this genre would love this book. It breaks the standard mold in a good way and manages to keep the readers hooked until the end.

[Cidney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this! It's not everday you come across an accountant turning into a detective when she goes to conduct an audit at an oil pipeline (which is being run across the plains somewhere in Canada) and sees a man's shoe on the ground near where she was counting very wide pipes. She picks up the shoe and looks around the pipes and then sees something sparkling in the pipeline (an earring) and a dead man's body, wearing only one shoe.

Cynthia obviously goes into shock and when her boss David arrives very soon after he asks who found the body, Cynthia said she did, the police officer enters the room and David says he found the body. Cynthia was shocked, then he leant over her and told her she was dead if she said otherwise. Nice man. However Cynthia isn't a wimp and tells the officer later that it was she who found the body. It also turns out that the building was targeted by environmental activists on a regular basis and that one of them was later found shot dead on the site, the one shoe man was head of the company. Cynthia then goes into amateur police officer mode to find out why her boss is threatening her son's life if she tells the truth to the police, then David starts threatening the lives of her parents too and then fires her from her high profile job just a few months away from taking her final accounting exam.

This does gather pace very quickly and does get a bit confusing as maths is not my forte! However not only does it gather pace it also gathers more characters so you need to be on the ball to read this one! As I said at the beginning I did enjoy it and it had a nicely rounded satisfactory ending.

[Lauren Sapala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Although I don’t know much about accounting or business, I found myself sucked into the story of Cynthia Webber, a student studying for her CPA exam, who unexpectedly stumbles across a body as she’s taking inventory during an audit process. Cynthia is drawn into a web of lies and deceit and becomes the target of a psychopath who is bent on destroying her career and family in a desperate attempt to continue the cover-up of his own sinister activities.

What I really loved was the momentum of the story. It felt like every chapter revealed another key piece of the puzzle and pushed me to keep turning pages. It was one of those books that keeps you up late even though you vowed you were only going to read for 15 minutes or so and then go to bed. An hour later and you’re still reading because you just have to find out what happens next. I also really liked the setting (Calgary Alberta) because I feel like you just don’t see that many thriller novels set in Canada. It was a nice change of pace from the usual gritty New York or LA-type mysteries I’ve seen.

This is a really great book to spend a weekend with, or take on vacation with you. It’s interesting and engaging but it’s not too dark or disturbing. It’s also a good read for those of us who like to figure out puzzles and enjoy trying to put all the pieces together before we get to the end of the book. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves well-written suspense, thriller, mystery and also fiction featuring intelligent, realistic, and relatable women characters.

[Ayezu Tamarapreye Okoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of my book gift from reader rewards
BOOK REVIEWER-OKOKO AYEZU TAMARAPREYE
BOOK :MURDER AUDIT BY MICHELLE CORNISH.
SYNOPSIS
A crime fiction that mirrors in a prose style PPC 's work on the Rocky Mountains pipeline and deaths on PPC construction site looking at work place accidents and deaths; violence of environmental protest groups;impute of environment on economy of a Nation;field auditing;cover up; construction project and environmental expert opinion;shielding;dementia; opinion sharing and temperament;age limit and destiny; investigation into David's background; amongst others as the occur before and after Jason's death.It raises questions whether train transportation considering it's slowness should be ideal for urgent trips while also looking at the effect of restraining orders and what puts it into action or makes it enforceable.

[K. Loomis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the pacing of this book! And I like that the relationships aren't cookie cutter perfect, yet there are definite bonds that keep the characters connected and caring for each other. The main character is someone you believe in and root for, and her adversary is deserving of your hate. A really smart and fun read.

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thriller and mystery of why was she the one to find the body. With an investigator they hope to solve. Good flowing plot and enjoyed. The narration by Melanie added to the story, well done. Given audio for my voluntary review.

[paulette sarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great police thriller

This book kept you engaged until the end. So much drama and suspense. Loved the spunky female characters. Loved the ending. Can't wait to read more with Cynthia as the lead.

[Mike McArthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot moves a bit too fast for me to get a handle on the characters, some chapters are only 2 pages long.

[Laura Davenport · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story line was good. However, too much would tried to be summed up in very short periods of the book.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was okay with great character development & a great plot. Personally, I wasn't completely in love with the book.

[David Pospisil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a slow start and some of the auditing info was drudgery, but this did turn out to be a decent murder thriller.
Where this goes in the next books in the series could be interesting.

[Govno Nichevo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a good read. The pace was reasonable, the story engaging.