The Menopause Murders by Mary Maloney and Ed Markel Book Review

About the Book:

"It's a slippery slide from hormones to homicide!"

Meet Debbi Dickerson: mousy, codependent housewife who, at age forty-seven, feels her life is over. Her dreams of being an artist have long been discarded in the wake of her failing marriage, and her kids think she’s invisible. She’s stuck on the hamster wheel, going nowhere.

That is, until menopause blindsides her. Derailed by one symptom after another, Debbi struggles to find a way to quell the hot flashes, night sweats, sudden panic attacks, and unbridled rage. The gals in her scrapbooking club give her advice on how to survive menopause, but nothing seems to help . . .  except killing.

Meet Jerry Dickerson, Debbi’s husband: arrogant, insensitive, all-around jerk, whose greatest dream as a homicide detective is to catch a serial killer and be admired, for once. So when a series of strange deaths break out in Tacoma, Washington, Jerry is elated, but the pressure is on to catch the killer.

Jerry’s boss, Sergeant Myra Manners, is also going through menopause and makes his life hell. And then there’s his teenage daughter dishing out hormones like Girl Scout cookies. Seriously, what’s a misogynist to do? Have an affair with some bubblehead, of course.

As the bodies pile up, more than dishes are going to fly. Yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel of menopause and Debbi can see it. But is it a bright future or the headlights of an incoming train with Jerry's name on it?

You can find out more at https://www.themenopausemurders.com/. 

My Review:

This book was just not my style. I did not feel it was funny at all. I guess my sense of humor is quite different from the authors'. I also felt the menopause experience was way over dramatized. I have experienced it and it was nothing like Debbie experienced. No one I have talked to, friends and relatives, had such dramatic experiences. And that Debbie did not know what was happening to her and was not familiar with medications and HRT is hard to believe.

One aspect of the book I did appreciate was all the information it contained about the pros and cons of the various ways people treat the experience.

There is dark humor in the story but I would not describe the book as hilarious.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

Ubiquitous Press, 534 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)