Summary

Death on a Deadline is a historical fiction with depth, mystery, and a little romance that left me on the edge of my seat more than once. But I still want more! I look forward to reading more books in this series. 

4-STAR REVIEW: DEATH ON A DEADLINE by Joyce St. Anthony

About The Book

A Homefront News Mystery: Book 2
Publication Date: November 8, 2022

Editor-in-chief Irene Ingram pencils in her newest mystery in Joyce St. Anthony’s second captivating Homefront News mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry and Rhys Bowen.

As World War II rages in Europe and the Pacific, the small town of Progress is doing its part for the soldiers in the field with a war bond drive at the annual county fair. Town gossip Ava Dempsey rumors that Clark Gable will be among the participating stars. Instead of Gable, the headliner is Freddie Harrison, a B-movie star. When Freddie turns up dead in the dunk tank, Irene Ingram, editor-in-chief of The Progress Herald, starts chasing the real headline.

There are plenty of suspects and little evidence. Ava’s sister Angel, who was married to the dead actor, is the most obvious. The couple had argued about his affair with the young starlet Belinda Fox, and Angel was the last person to see Freddie alive.

Irene discovers there’s more than one person who might have wanted Freddie dead. As Irene draws on her well-honed reporter’s instincts to find the killer—nothing is what it seems in Progress, and now her own deadline could be right around the corner.

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The Review

Death on a Deadline is the second book in the Homefront News Mystery series by Joyce St. Anthony, and it held my interest throughout. 

There is so much detail and depth to the story as clues are pieced together to find out whodunnit. There are several crimes and clues to unravel as we are reunited with characters we’ve met before from the small town in Pennsylvania and those working at the newspaper, the Progress Herald.

Irene is the paper’s editor-in-chief, while her dad is off being a war correspondent. She’s also a reporter and an amateur sleuth. The story is set in 1942, and I loved how each chapter started with a war headline from her paper. 

Irene’s fiancé’s dad is the police chief, and she seems to feed him things she finds out—but maybe not how she finds out the information—and he also gives her some information related to the crimes. Irene’s fiancé is also part of the war effort. I like how events from the first book are interspersed throughout this one, adding realism and another layer to the story.

Much of the story takes place at the local fair, which takes place annually, and this year they are raising money for war bonds and stamps. There are details of the war sprinkled throughout, some very close to home. 

Several storylines are told that are nicely woven together, and no detail is unimportant. There are twists and turns along with loads of secrets, blackmail, actors, those who aren’t as they seem, family and friends, gossip, love interests, small businesses, anger, tears, naivete, darkness, and evil. Ultimately the crimes are solved but not without some scary moments. 

Death on a Deadline is a historical fiction with depth, mystery, and a little romance that left me on the edge of my seat more than once. But I still want more! I look forward to reading more books in this series. 

About The AuthorJoyce St. Anthony was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. In addition to the Homefront News Mysteries, she is the author of the Brewing Trouble Mysteries and the upcoming Cider House Mysteries written under her own name, Joyce Tremel. She lives in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania with her husband.

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REVIEW AUTHOR

JoAnne
JoAnne
JoAnne Weiss, nee Montalbano, was born and raised in NYC until moving to CT with her family when she was 16 and she's never left. Married for 43 years with one grown son, she works in an elementary school office where she's been since it opened in 2003. Prior to that, she was an accountant in several corporations before becoming a stay at home mom for 12 years. JoAnne enjoys reading, traveling, spending time with her family, and extended family as well as with friends. She enjoys cooking and rarely uses a recipe the way it was intended but instead uses them and cooking shows to give her new ideas and suggestions. JoAnne has a huge bucket list of places she'd like to visit but has been lucky enough to travel to England, Italy, the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and many states in the U.S. including Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Maine among others. Some of JoAnne's favorite genres include contemporary romance, chick-lit, romantic suspense, and historical romances including regency and those set in the west. JoAnne is on several author's street teams and enjoys interacting with many of them on Facebook as well as reading their newsletters. She has been lucky enough to meet some of her favorite authors among them Susan Mallery, Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, Meg Tilly, Beatriz Williams, and Marie Bostwick. JoAnne took a road trip with her sister in the fall of 2019 and visited Nora Roberts' bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland for an authors' signing. She hopes to do more of this in the future. JoAnne leaves reviews for all books she reads on Goodreads and her reviews can be found at https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5001736?ref=nav_mybooks JoAnne currently reviews for - NovelsAlive.com. Previously she reviewed for Romancing-the-Book.com and RomanceJunkies.com both of which have since closed. Payment is in the form of receiving free books to read and review. Her mantra is too many books and not enough time!

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Death on a Deadline is a historical fiction with depth, mystery, and a little romance that left me on the edge of my seat more than once. But I still want more! I look forward to reading more books in this series. 4-STAR REVIEW: DEATH ON A DEADLINE by Joyce St. Anthony