**I received a complimentary copy of this book for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

About the Book

Book: Written Off

Author: Barbara Cornthwaite

Genre: Christian Cozy Mystery

Release date: May 2021

”Break a leg?” They’ll be lucky if they don’t all break their necks!

After years of waiting, Katrina finally has her happily ever after. All is right with her world . . . until hate crimes begin happening in the charming college town of Wilkester. Even more disturbing is the fact that the perpetrator seems to be connected with the writing class Katrina teaches. How can she prevent her rosy visions of the future from turning into broken dreams?

Find out in this third book of the Wilkester Mysteries.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Barbara Cornthwaite lives in the middle of Ireland with her husband and children. She taught college English before “retiring” to do something she loves far more; her days are now filled with homeschooling her six children, trying to keep the house tidy (a losing battle), and trying to stay warm in the damp Irish climate (also a losing battle). She is surrounded by medieval castles, picturesque flocks of sheep, and ancient stone monuments. These things are unappreciated by her children, who are more impressed by traffic jams, skyscrapers, and hot weather.

More from Barbara

What Kind of Lessons Could a Mystery Possibly Teach Me?

It’s been a couple decades since I taught a college English class, and writing the Wilkester Mysteries with Professor Katrina Peters as the main character brought back happy memories of teaching. Not enough to want to go back to it—homeschooling my own kids is much more rewarding—but enough that I had to stop myself from writing much longer lectures into the stories! These are my first contemporary novels, and it was nice to write a story without the hours and hours of historical research I usually have to do. But whatever time period stories are set in, people feel the same emotions and have to learn the same spiritual lessons.

Katrina loves literature and can’t help seeing her own life as a story. The only problem is that she keeps thinking she knows what the Author is doing, and she has definite ideas about what the plot should be. She is not unlike myself: over and over I’ve thought I knew what God was doing in my life. And if He was short on ideas, I had quite a few that He was free to use! But He has rarely been doing what I thought He was, and for some reason He never seems to use my ideas about what could happen in my story. Both Katrina and I need to learn the lesson that God’s wisdom is beyond ours, His storytelling is much deeper and richer than ours, and His plots are never predictable!

My Thoughts

Written Off is the third book in Barbara Cornthwaite's Wilkester Mystery series. This was the first in the series that I had personally read. On the one hand, it was quite clear in some places that this was not the first time meeting these characters as vague references were made to previous cases and the beginning of Katrina's relationship with Todd... all of which I assume took place in those previous books. Still, even without that history, I did not find that it impacted my enjoyment of the story. Honestly, it just made me want to go back and read more of the story.

Katrina was a hard character not to enjoy with her love of stories and constant references to literary quotes... perfect for any book lover! The author did a great job of drawing me into the mystery and kept me wondering throughout. While I may have suspected the whodunnit early on, there were twists and turns that kept me guessing and continued to surprise me. I cannot say too much about that without giving anything away, but it was certainly an enjoyable read--- just the type of story I enjoy in a cozy!

I found myself enjoying the characters so much that I wasn't ready for it to end, and hoping that more will come in the series after this one. If you are looking for a good cozy mystery to check out, Written Off is truly a good choice with a good blend of mystery, faith and wedding planning!