Alex Matthews – Cassidy McCabe Mystery Series

Recently, our book club collection was gifted with four sets of books (Secret’s Shadow, Satan’s Silence, Death’s Domain, and Wedding’s Widow) by the Chicago author Alex Matthews. If you’re unfamiliar with Matthews, she is the writer of the Cassidy McCabe mysteries. Cassidy McCabe is a psychotherapist who lives and works in the Oak Park Neighborhood, owns a cat named Starshine, and spends her time as an amateur detective. I asked the Library Commission book club to read and discuss the first title in her series, Secret’s Shadow. There were comments that the story was good and moved right along. There were criticisms from some about Cassidy too easily dismissing her intuition regarding signals of danger, but most generally sensed an overall strength in her character.  Some of the readers were fond of Cassidy; others struggled with her insecurity in her relationships. The setting of Chicago and its description was given high marks in its accuracy. Most important to any title read by a club is the discussion which was described as lively and opinionated. The readers disagreed about several items and I think those are always the most memorable meetings. The more opposite the opinions; the more members work to articulate why they are taking a particular position.  If your book club is looking for a Midwest setting for a book, considering requesting one of Matthew’s titles for your book group and many thanks to Alex for providing her books to our library.