Dear Irene,

This is the third installment of the on-going mystery series by author Jan Burke . We follow the adventures of Southern California reporter Irene Kelly as she solves murders and tracks down criminals, assisted by her boyfriend, police detective Frank Harriman.

In Dear Irene, she is dealing with a crack-pot who calls himself “Thanatos” and seems obsessed with her, sending her letters based on mythology that are giving her clues about a series of murders. His letters seem to imply that if she is quick enough and puts the clues together she could perhaps save the next victim. All the while he appears to be drawing closer and closer to her.

On the surface these books sound like many others but the writing of Jan Burke, I believe, puts show more them in a different class, each book is better than the last one. Both well crafted and witty, these books are hard to put down. I enjoyed Dear Irene and I am looking forward to the next Irene Kelly Mystery. show less

A new mystery series, and I really enjoyed it! I bought three books by new writers (not that I need any new mystery series, but I always crave variety) and this was the best of the three. I did not start at the beginning of the series, which I usually like to do, because I just had to guess which one might be first and I guessed wrong. I hate it when the books themselves offer no clue about the right order! Right, back to the book. Irene Kelly is a strong and stubborn reporter, who will follow the story anywhere, even into the thick of trouble. Her fiancee, police officer Frank, isn't always so happy about that.

In this book, Irene's trouble comes to her: a reader of the paper begins sending her letters, laced with references to Greek show more mythology, that foretell a death, and are signed Thanatos (god of death). As these murders slowly come true in real life, Irene and Frank work to unravel who is behind them. I usually don't enjoy contemporary mysteries, as they are so filled with morbid details and police procedure. I tend to go for the mansion on the estate, filled with an assortment of likely suspects, type of mystery myself. But this novel crossed the divide for me. The mystery was compelling, and intense, but not overwhelmingly graphic. The suspense was much higher than that of the type of mystery I usually read and kept my interest riveted to the story. My only regret was that the series was already underway. I'm interested in seeing how it all began, and especially how Irene and Frank became a couple. Now that I've looked the series up online (which I should have done in the first place, but it was one of those impulse buys, you know), I plan on doing just that next time I buy a Burke novel. show less

This book was recommended to me by a friend. I got to admit, I'm not a fan of thrillers. They are exciting and interesting to read but after finishing I always get a feeling of dissatisfaction. I guess I could say the same with "Dear Irene". It was exciting for sure but unfulfilling at the end unlike Cormoran Strike's series.

This book is one in the series of journalist Irene Kelly in Las Piernas, CA. It's my favorite due to its revolving around letters sent to Irene that have a mythology twist. The killer sends clues via the letter and it is up to her to figure out who is, but it is usually not quickly enough to save the next victim. Burke's mysteries are well written and very suspenseful. Love reading anything she writes.

One of the Irene Kelly mysteries, using classical references to form a puzzle for our intrepid detectives.

Always enjoy an Irene book!

Irene Kelley #3