June 19, 2026 - fundinmentalfundinmental

MY REVIEW

Murder By Design by Lee Goldberg is a new series starring Edison Bixby. He has a traumatic brain injury that causes him to be impulsively rude. He’s also wealthy and handsome, so maybe that gives him a little leeway. Wally, an actor, is hired to keep him out of trouble.

Murder By Design is a different kind of mystery, and includes some laughs along the way. Sometimes a tongue in cheek book like this works for me, other times, not so much. I guess it depends on what kind of mood I’m in. I did enjoy the mystery and the ending was marvelous. I never saw that coming and I am always up for a good surprise.

My thanks go out to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to share Murder By Design by Lee Goldberg.

GOODREADS BLURB

In a world carefully constructed for murder, solving crimes takes a keen mind and eye in a witty, clever, and fresh reinvention of the whodunit.

Edison Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and, due to a traumatic brain injury, impulsively rude. He’s also a brilliant insurance investigator who solves baffling crimes by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible. Enter Wally, a struggling actor hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets.

Their first case together looks like a simple accident. Caroline Crowley took a nasty fall down a staircase at a shopping mall in front of dozens of witnesses. Video clearly shows the deadly misstep. But Bixby is certain she was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. The mall itself made the crime intentional, if not inevitable.

Now Bixby must prove his outrageous theory before a very cunning killer gets others on his hit list to murder themselves, too.

Genre: Comedy and Humor, Fiction, Mystery
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2026 by Thomas & Mercer
Series: Edison Bixby #1

ABOUT LEE GOLDBERG

#1 New York Times Bestselling author Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee whose many TV writing and/or producing credits include “Martial Law,” “SeaQuest,” “Diagnosis Murder,””Hunter,” “Spenser: For Hire,” “Nero Wolfe,” “Missing.” “Monk” and “The Glades.” He’s also the co-author of the Fox & O’Hare series with Janet Evanovich (The Heist, The Chase, The Job, The Scam, The Pursuit etc), “The Walk,” “Watch Me Die,” “King City,” the “Dead Man” series, as well as the “Diagnosis Murder” and “Monk” series of original mystery novels.

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MY LEE GOLDBERG REVIEWS