The Sarah Armstrong Mystery series is a fictional series created by true crime author-turned-novelist Kathryn Casey, first published by St. Martin's Minotaur in 2008. Booklist magazine named the first novel, Singularity, one of the top ten Best Crime Novel Debuts of 2009.Mystery Writers of America, Singularity Book Detail
Overview The series narrates Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong, a criminal profiler, as she solves murders. The first book, Singularity, follows Lieutenant Armstrong as she solves the bizarre double murder of a millionaire businessman and his mistress. Killed in a swank Galveston beach house, the pair are discovered in a grotesque intimate pose. Complicating matters is that Armstrong is newly widowed, and neither she nor her daughter handle the loss well. As Armstrong closes in on her suspect, he turns the tables on her and makes her family his new targets.
In 2010, Library Journal picked the third book in the series, The Killing Storm, as Best Books 2010 in the mystery fiction genre,Library Journal, "Best Books 2010: Genre Fiction" calling it, "Riveting suspense and nifty plot twists in an outstanding series."
Critical reception Singularity was included on Vanity Fair's "Hot Type" page in its August 2008 issue.Blog Critics, "Kathryn Casey, Author of Killing Storm," December 7, 2010
The Houston Press, in a feature about the series and the author, wrote, "After writing half a dozen true-crime books, Houstonian Kathryn Casey decided to step into fiction with Singularity."Houston Press, "The true-crime journalist turns to fiction for her latest release," July 3, 2008 P.G. Koch with the Houston Chronicle wrote that "Casey deftly switches between investigations, working in Sarah's personal life as well as the interesting minutia involved in following tenuous leads."Houston Chronicle, "New in mysteries: Strong females take control in new titles," July 17, 2009 The Tampa Tribune, in its feature, wrote, "Not since Patricia Cornwell's Postmortem has a crime author crafted such a stellar series debut."
Publishers Weekly, in a review, called Casey's first attempt at mystery writing, with Singularity, "the riveting fiction debut from true-crime journalist Casey."Publishers Weekly, "Fiction Reviews," week of May 26, 2008 (scroll down)
Midwest Book Review wrote that Blood Lines, the second in the series, was "a fine combination of who done it and who is doing it."Midwest Book Review, July 2009 (scroll down) Also, Deadly Pleasures magazine named Singularity "Best First Novel of 2008."Deadly Pleasures magazine, "Year's Best Mysteries," 2008
Two of the books in the series were chosen as Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
Titles Singularity (2008, first in the Sarah Armstrong series) Blood Lines (2009, second in the series) The Killing Storm (2010, third in the series) The Buried (2018, fourth in the series)
References
External links St. Martin's Press Sarah Armstrong Mystery page Kirkus Reviews, "A Texas Ranger juggles two difficult cases as a hurricane bears down on Houston," June 15, 2010 Sarah Armstrong Mystery Facebook page Author's website