{Review} Breaking Measures by Emma Raveling

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: September 24th, 2015
Finished Date: October 2nd, 2015

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Mystery, Contemporary
Source: For Review
Format: eARC

Pages: Unknown
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

 

On the fast track to international success, acclaimed concert pianist Leila Cates is close to achieving her dreams. But her path to certain stardom comes to a crashing halt when the body of her boyfriend, a world-renowned conductor, is discovered on the eve of her New York debut. When rumors about their relationship surface, Leila quickly becomes the primary suspect.

Desperate to clear her name, Leila sets out to uncover the truth. Enlisting the reluctant help of Orion Frazier, the lead detective on the case, their investigation soon entangles her in a world of secrets and lies.

With everything on the line, can Leila find the strength to face what she finds?  

A taut suspense thriller of dark secrets and even darker ambitions, Breaking Measures is a stand-alone prequel novella to A Woven Silence.

The Review: Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery filled with suspense? Well that’s exactly what you are getting with Breaking Measures…. And it’s soooo good!
We have an extremely talented pianist in our heroine – Leila Cates – and she is on the verge of huge success. Unfortunately she stumbles across her boyfriend in the act of the ultimate betrayal and it sends her into a tail spin. What should be the most important week of her life turns out to be the worst when after a very public spat with her boyfriend….. hours later, she finds him dead! Murdered in fact and Leila immediately becomes the prime suspect. Determined to find out the truth about Carlos and why someone would want him dead, she sets about looking for clues but ends up in danger herself when the murderer sets their sights on her.
This is a little different from what I’m used to from this author but her writing skills are evident as she captivates us with an edge of the seat thriller this time. I can’t say that I am totally in the know about all of the dealings of classical music, concerts, recitals and the business of running those things but I appreciated how it was used in the story. I thought Leila’s character was very likable and she seemed very genuine in a world where people’s egos are on show everyday. She was very dedicated to her art and had a very driven nature. She had an innocence about her and came across as a tad naïve for her age – possibly to do with her overbearing parents.
The story was very intriguing and as I mentioned – who doesn’t love a good whodunit? The story was set up really well before the murder when the public spat showed that more than one person could have motive for what was to happen. As Leila starts looking for clues, she uncovers more than she bargained for and her world is turned upside down and even though she finds one ally, she has to keep it together because as the saying goes – the show must go on. Obviously we aren’t going to find the culprit until the very end and the final showdown but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a line of suspects throughout the story, I was constantly trying to work out who it was an accused everyone she came into contact with. When Leila finds herself on the killers radar, there became a danger and urgency to solve the case that came across very well to the reader and really kept me on my toes. She did seem to share a connection to one of the policemen investigating Carlos’s murder, so I wonder if that would evolve into something – but there wasn’t any romance to be had.
When we finally have the reveal, there are a few twists and turns in Leila’s life too, bringing out many a skeleton from her closet and making her doubt everyone and this definitely gave the ending a bigger impact.
The story definitely had me intrigued all of the way through, trying to work out what was going on, who did it, what was the motive etc. I really didn’t see any of the reveals coming and thought it was a great mystery set against an interesting background of the professional classical music/musician/business. I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it all in one go, I couldn’t put it down until I knew who did it and why. It would also make a very cool movie. 

Thank you to Emma Raveling for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.