Written in Blood

Title: Written in Blood

Author: Sheila Lowe

Publisher: Obsidian Mystery

Copyright Date: 2008

Print Date: September 2008

ISBN: 9780451224873

Pages: 306

Series: 2nd in the Forensic Handwriting Mystery series

Book Description (from back cover):

Sheila Lowe's Poison Pen was hailed as a "fast-paced, crisp...novel that penetrates the world of celebrity."* And Hollywood forensic handwriting expert Claudia Rose is about to prove once more that no matter what words it forms, a pen will always write the truth....

Claudia Rose's latest client is a dime-a-dozen type. The widow of a rich older man, Paige Sorensen is younger than — and hated by — her stepchildren. And they're dead set on proving that Paige forged their father's signature on his will, which left his entire estate, including the Sorensen Academy, to her.

Intrigued by this real-life soap opera, Claudia soon breaks one of the cardinal rules of business: Never get personally involved. But Claudia has grown attached to a troubled Sorensen student, and when disaster strikes, she'll realize that reading between the lines can mean the difference between life and death.

*Armchair Interviews

Comments:

I agreed to mail the book following this one to someone else, and of course I needed to read the series in order so...

I had forgotten pretty much everything from the first book in this series (Poison Pen) except that I liked it. Getting to re-meet Claudia Rose while learning more about forensic handwriting (of particular interest to me considering I minored in Forensic Science during my undergrad days) was a pleasure. The overt mystery came late in the story but Claudia's curiosity about other issues leading up to that point built up to the mystery — preventing the book from becoming to slow-paced. In fact this was a very quick read. I read it within 4 hours — and that timeframe includes frequent interruptions such as dinner.