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Book: “Scaled Vengeance” by Wendy M. Barnhart
Publishing Info: Camashea Press, November 2026
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ePub from the publicist
Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: The justice system failed. She didn’t.
Cassidy Vickers suspected the “Scales Killer” was a woman, and she was right. As a podcast host, serial killers were her obsession. Now working as a feature reporter, those human monsters are part of her past.
Convicted of nine murders, Scales Killer and former influencer, Emerson Kemp, rechristened “Lady Justice,” is weeks away from execution. But brutal abusers are dying again, each marked with Emerson’s signature icon of uneven scales. Is Emerson directing the murders from death row? Cassidy can’t resist searching for the answer.
When Emerson contacts Cassidy during a true crime livestream, Cassidy is further ensnared in the hunt. An outraged public accuses Cassidy of collusion, even murder, threatening Cassidy’s career and fracturing her family. Bodies are dropping, powerful forces are closing in, and the clock is ticking faster toward Emerson’s execution.
Can Cassidy find the truth? Or will darker secrets leave her world in ruin?
Review: Thank you to Books Forward for sending me an ePub of this novel!
The year is starting to wind down and as it gets brisker in the air (it’s way too warm for November here in the Twin Cities, if I’m being honest) I find myself more and more inclined to turn inward and just try and be cozy. And I find thrillers and mysteries to be rather cozy! When “Scaled Vengeance” by Wendy M. Barnhart ended up in the inbox, the comparison to “Dateline” reeled me in pretty quickly. But I was also intrigued by the idea of podcaster Cassidy Vickers exposing a serial killer, only for there to be copycat murders right before said serial killer, Emerson Kemp, is going to be executed. Now THAT sounded interesting, and for the most part it was!
I really found myself enjoying Cassidy as a protagonist, especially how we had this focus on her work life, her connection to Emerson (as twisted as it may be), and the tenuous home life that she has with a delightful young son named Joey and a difficult husband named Merrick. I say difficult because he is very much being manipulated and controlled by his overbearing and duplicitous mother, who is incredibly concerned about reputation as the head of a high powered oil company (and who is terribly concerned about Cassidy stepping outside societal expectations). I thought that Cassidy’s need for independence and agency, and the conflict it is creating with her doormat of a husband, was a very engaging subplot, especially since instead of making it very black and white Barnhart instead opts to go in a direction that makes the reader, or at least me, a little more empathetic to everyone involved (and that’s all I will say as to avoid spoilers). I also did find the strange and Hannibal and Clarice-esque banter and back and forth between Emerson and Cassidy to be interesting, as I really do love a story where a detective has to work with a nefarious criminal in order to solve a case, and then has to wonder just how forthright said criminal is being (and if the criminal is also playing mind games). And hey, who doesn’t like a story about abusers and predators being taken out after the justice system doesn’t hold them to account? It’s always cathartic to see this in the books I read.
As a mystery, it was entertaining! I did find myself wondering what was going on and whether or not Cassidy could trust Emerson, and I felt like there were some solid misdirects and some pretty well done reveals. I do have one criticism, but it needs a bit of a caveat. I am not certain if this is a second book in a series, as this has certainly happened to me before where I’ve been offered a book that had previous installments and I’ve wound up a little confused because of the lack of context. I did some digging, and I couldn’t find anything that would suggest that there were previous books about Cassidy and her time as a podcaster that broke open a huge case that led her to her position as a journalist in this book. But if there aren’t any books before this (if there are, disregard!), this did feel a little bit like we were thrown into the middle of a character arc that had some heavy lifting done in previous installments that would have added context to this story. I think that I would have liked to get to know some of the characters better before they hit the ground running.
“Scaled Vengeance” is a fun and well crafted thriller mystery. Cassidy is a fun protagonist and it will surely entertain fans of the genre!
Rating 7: I really liked the parts of the story about Cassidy’s home life and the themes of the mystery, though I felt like we were kind of plopped into what could have been a sequel as opposed to a stand alone.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Scaled Vengeance” is included on the Goodreads list “Fearless Females”.
