The back cover of Meredith’s Secret summarizes as follows: Eve Chandler’s husband Tom is murdered. The killing seems random, but then Detective Benson ties Tom’s death into a series of interstate killings. Eve has to find out the truth before she herself is killed.

The novel opens in Detroit with a man sitting in his car, watching a motel entrance. He checks his watch. He smokes a cigarette. He fondles his Glock 9mm. Clearly, he’s up to no good.

Meet Gianni, a thug looking for revenge and money. Two years ago, he and his friends robbed an armored car in Boston. Gianni ended up with nothing while the others absconded with the money. Now Gianni enters the motel to confront the first of his double-crossing friends. The guy doesn’t have the money, but he coughs up the location North Dakota. Gianni shoots him and then moves on.

This kicks off crime scenes in Detroit and Fargo, North Dakota. Meanwhile, Tom Chandler is home in Vail, Colorado preparing to travel on business to Boston. He’s been married for the past two years to Eve. But Tom has a tragic past; he has recurring dreams of a boyhood friend whom he was unable to save from drowning.

Tom finishes the trip, and returns to Vail. At this point, on page 49, the novel finds its focus when Eve discovers Tom’s dead body. Detective Benson from the Vail police force investigates.

Soon Benson is working with an FBI agent who is following the armored car robbery case. Tom seems to have connections with this case, but no one knows for sure. He never spoke of his life before he married Eve. Plus, the details of his murder do not match the execution-style killings (by Gianni) that happened in Detroit and Fargo.

But Gianni is now stalking Eve for the money. All she has is a cryptic name that Tom scrawled before he was killed: Meredith. She and her friend Mike start their own investigation into Tom’s death.

This is a fast-paced read that offers an interesting puzzle. The best character is Detective Benson, not Eve. Fortunately, he dominates much of the book. The book’s flaw is that the real story doesn’t start until page 49.

In a mystery, you have to open with the crime. This is Tom Chandler’s murder on page 49. Then you must introduce one or two characters whose lives have been altered by it: Eve and Detective Benson. The first 50 pages of this novel, involving Gianni’s other murders and other crime scenes and other police departments, were competently written and interesting, but should have been cut.

Meredith’s Secret is a self-published novel by a first-time novelist. It does have its flaws, but it is also a good example of what an individual can accomplish who has the initiative and the creativity to self-publish his story. You can find it on Amazon through this link: Meredith's Secret