In the picturesque peaceful town of Newport Beach, a beautiful bookkeeper of the town's wealthiest family, McGinty, is found dead. That in itself is a very rare occurrence, but when a power hungry DA involves herself in the case and arrests Johnny Barnes, a wealthy philanthropist and related to the McGinty's via marriage, she sends the whole town into a frenzy.

DA Janice Maitland only grabs and holds onto the case due to its high profile nature and how it will increase her political standing. But in trying to achieve power, she makes some major blunders in arresting and continuously accusing Johnny without solid proof. In order to save her image, she is willing to go to any lengths, including planting evidence.

For Johnny and his family, the murder charge is a shock and completely out of the blue. The public turns against them. They are being ignored, cut direct and socially barred by all their close friends and favourite places. They're slandered on the internet. Added to that, the head of the McGinty family, Jonny's brother-in-law, has been gunning for them since they sued him for withholding company information. He is also considerably more influential than them and controls all their accounts. With the help of his wife and kids, Johnny must discover the real killer to prove his innocence before the noose tightens and he sent to jail permanently.

MONEY, FAMILY, MURDER grabbed my attention from the time I read the blurb. The interest began to wane as I delved further into the story. The concept and the story hold promise and is well written. Despite this, I had a hard time getting into the story or caring if Johnny got exonerated or not. Why might be either because Timothy Patten's writing style is not what I am familiar with or that the characters did not feel fully-developed. The number of stunts Johnny pulled in the course of the events had me wanting to knock some sense into him, and some of the characters and situations felt uneccessary, adding nothing consequential to the final outcome.

MONEY, FAMILY, MURDER is a quick, fast-paced read despite the length, once you get into it. The self-absorbed, image-conscious Janice is the most fleshed out, well- written character in this book. The ending and revelation of the killer is anti-climactic and felt rushed. What I like about MONEY, FAMILY, MURDER is how Timothy Patten shows the corrupt system; thanks to power hungry politicians, the influence money has over people, and how greed and jealousy destroys everything. While this story did not captivate my attention nor feeling sympathy for the victim, MONEY, FAMILY, MURDER is nonetheless a well- written mystery where you will not be able to guess whodunit till the time the killer is revealed.