Ever had an It’s-It? 

K.M.Wood

The shadows of a run-down Venice Beach apartment hide the crouching form of a woman, strangled and dead by her own hand.  Suicide? Unquestionably. But what brought about the decision to die?

Bella Marx is struggling to recover from the sudden death of her husband when she discovers the corpse of her estranged cousin, and this new encounter with death delivers a hard, destabilizing blow.

When a manuscript found among the dead woman’s effects hints at the involvement of an outsider in this most final of decisions, acting on instinct, Bella follows a tenuous thread of taunting and sinister clues from Venice Beach to Berkeley and San Francisco’s western edge. This is a journey of revenge and self-discovery. Suicide can be murder.

Golden Gate Mysteries, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley…I really enjoyed this book. K.M. Wood has created a unique and interesting character in Bella Marx — she’s a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who gave up her job and turned to writing romance novels after the death of her husband — and manages to combine academia with a good old-fashioned detective yarn. This is Wood’s first novel. I hope we see more. — Randal S. Brandt

From Amazon.com:
Fantastic read…This is a page turner that
keeps evolving all the way to the last page. Beautifully told with deep
emotional honesty, this is equal parts a thriller, a heartbreaker, and a
meditation on the human condition. Highly recommend.–Dana Jakobson Smart intriguing mystery…“Death by Revelation” is an intriguing and complex book, an intense inquiry into human ambivalence and the consequences of acting out revenge fantasies. The characters are well drawn and the language crisp and precise. The book also explores our tendency to assume personal responsibility for coincidental events–a lot like life! –Dan Liberthson
Good read… Appeals to the intellect but gives the nervous system a workout. Fabulous local color for San Francisco. Characters were well developed and would not mind meeting some of them again. — Joanne O. Whitney
California setting…This mystery covers a lot of California terrain. For me, it really captures Venice Beach in the opening chapter, taking us to a seedy vintage cottage, the boardwalk coffee bars. A very natural setting for a suicide. Or was it murder? I was hooked right away.–M.Woods

Death by Revelation at  Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  

An old ride at Playland-at-the-Beach and An Alley in Chinatown: historic photos courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library