Amy Saunders

"Wisdom does not always come with age. Sometimes, age comes on its own."

All the main characters in this are purportedly grown adults, but have never really left behind their high school years- not in relationships, personality, emotions, or anything else.

Given the cast of rich brat characters, it would have been better written as a noir rather than a cozy. Just for example, Belinda- our heroine- is not nearly as adorable as she and everyone in the book seems to think; she is tediously show more spoiled.

And really- do authors realize that- for any character but a cat- "smirked" gives a BAD impression??? I have grown weary of seeing it used as an unladen synonym for "smile", since it is very laden indeed.

Plus, I am not convinced that the underlying mystery or mysteries make any sense at all. Lots is implied, but no one has the attention span to figure things out other than accidentally.

I did read the whole thing, but am not tempted to read anything more by this author. There are a lot of better books; read them instead. show less

Dead Locked is a fun and unique story, combining a long ago romance and lost pirate treasure with modern day romance, murder, and mystery. Amy Saunders does a fantastic job of allowing the characters' personalities to slowly unfold. Rather than being bombarded with information at the start, we are allowed to get to know each character as a friend. She sprinkles the plot's details like bread crumbs on a trail, giving us enough to keep us close while not quite allowing us to catch up.

The show more book's chapters are broken into various times before and after a specific murder. For me, this was the only drawback. The back and forth shifts left me a little disoriented at times, making it harder for me to stay in the moment with the story. This could easily be more a reflection of my own reading preferences than anything to do with the writing style.

** I read Amy Saunder's short story Bast & Immie first, which introduces the two main characters and allows us to get to know them before the events of this novel. It's not necessary to read the story but it is such a fun read that I highly recommend you do! ** show less

4 STARS

Dead Locked is a treasure hunt,murder mystery,action packed and pirates too. It's is a good book. Also this is a clean read.

It jumps a lot in the book. From pirate ship to different dates before the murder or so many days after. It was a little confusing especially as I was listening to the story on kindle.

The characters had good traits and some bad traits. You were not really sure who the good guys are and who were the bad guys,
Peter and Sebastian where looking for shipwrecks. Peter show more was also looking for a fable gem. Sebastian did not believe it existed.
Peter believed and he would not stop looking for it.

The day of the murder Imogen recieves a list in the mail from her boss Peter. Later that day he is murdered. Sebastian will not be part of the hunt. ButChad a old roommate of Sebastian who framed him for stealing is on the look for the ring. Chad is following Imogen he knows she is on the right track. Someone else is following her.

I would read more from Amy Saunders in the future. I was given this ebook from the author on Librarything and asked to give honest review of it when I was done.

discription below taken off of Amazon

Imogen Bell dishes publicity for a team of explorers, and she just can't resist a good pirate tale. So when her boss is murdered, Imogen dares to defy her anti-lore boyfriend and joins forces with his nemesis in a hunt to find treasure worth killing for. If she doesn't want to end up in Davy Jones' Locker, Imogen must trust the clues of a dead man and crack open a centuries-old mystery before her opponent does it first. show less

Great mystery!

Loved this book! Loved the characters & the details made me feel like I was there! Could hardly put this book down!