Overview

'Final Exam, ' is a Crime Fiction/Thriller. It's also a prequel to my last book, 'Blame it on the Moon, ' featuring several of the same characters. Don Weston left a long career of big-city policing in Philadelphia behind for a semi-retirement position as the Police Chief at Churchville University, a small liberal arts college. The new job is a pleasant slowdown from the urban career, allowing Don to pursue his other interests as an amateur Civil War historian and law enforcement consultant. Like all small liberal arts schools, Churchville faces the difficult survival struggles of declining enrollment, under endowment, and academic resistance to hard changes. The idyllic environment is increasingly threatened with uncertainty and the small community has become a hotbed of politics and administrative drama. Don is considering hanging up this career as well when the College Provost goes missing on a Monday and a preliminary investigation raises a number of questions for Don. Within days, another faculty member has committed suicide, and the body of the College President is discovered, gruesomely murdered, in the school auditorium. It falls on Don to pool the contacts and resources of his time in Philadelphia in solving a multi-faceted puzzle of clues and questionable relationships.

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Loved it! Reedsy Discovery review A peek into Don Weston's past in this riveting tale of missing persons, sexual liaisons, and murder in the prequel to BLAME IT ON THE MOON. The plot is well-paced, and the action is tight. The murders are vividly described and graphically detailed, their means and methods horrifically matched to the killer's opinion of his victim's guilt and misdeeds. I recommend FINAL EXAM to readers of grittier mysteries and suspense and fans of the previous novel who want to know more about the main character's backstory. Readers Favorite 5 Stars - Lou Pugliese does a great job of delivering a mystery with a lot of twists and plenty of suspense in Final Exam. T the plot is tempered, precise, and deliberate. The writing style is straightforward with panache that comes from Pugliese's unique format of providing vignettes with a direct view of the victims in the lead-up to each tragedy so we can see what has happened. This technique is very difficult to successfully pull off but Pugliese does it without a hitch; a testament to his skill as a writer. Readers' Favorite 5 Stars - Lou Pugliese has an engaging writing style that invites the reader in and captivates them. Don Weston is the kind of stand-up yet extremely affable policeman everyone would wish worked in their hometown. His former police work makes him a professional in his field, and I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of police protocol and actions. The shocking revelation toward the end of the book will surprise many readers. Final Exam is for lovers of small-town murder mysteries and thrillers involving the police. Readers' Favorite 5 Stars - Final Exam by Lou Pugliese draws readers into a cerebral crime story that masterfully combines academic politics with classic detective work. Author Lou Pugliese offers readers an original mystery that feels both fresh and familiar. I was impressed by the use of the academic setting to bring complexity to what might otherwise be a typical police procedural. The dialogue crackles with tension and wit, while the pacing maintains suspense without sacrificing the careful attention to detail that mystery readers expect. The intricate plotting is well-timed and realistically balanced with surprises, keeping readers engaged through multiple twists and turns. Readers' Favorite 4 Stars - Final Exam is billed as a prequel to author Lou Pugliese's Blame It on the Moon but this stands alone as a complete mystery tale. What I like is that although it touches on unusual sexual practices that some might consider aberrant, it doesn't focus on those and only uses the scenario to create story arcs relating to mystery and murder. Readers who appreciate their murder mysteries with a gentle touch of spice will find their fix here. This is an enjoyable read that I recommend. INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW A rural college town is shaken to the core in this thriller of brutal crimes and human complexity. The story flows seamlessly and engages from start to finish. As the tangible truths unfold, the motivations remain murky. The acts are clearly evil, but not necessarily the perpetrators who have their own stories. This human factor instills a subtle complexity that elevates Final Exam above the others-an exemplary procedural crime story.

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