Final Exam

(Blame It on the Moon, #0)

by

Lou Pugliese

An intriguing 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.

Final Exam is author Lou Pugliese’s riveting prequel to his earlier cold-case historical mystery, Blame It On the Moon, and reveals some of his main character’s backstory from when he was the Chief of Police at a small liberal arts school, Churchville University. Typically a quiet member of the Churchville, Pennsylvania community, the university soon headlines the news when a well-liked university provost goes missing during a massive school restructuring, which includes sudden and extensive system-wide faculty layoffs. Rumors run rampant regarding the missing woman’s relationship with the university president and his wife, but there are few actual clues for Chief Don Weston to pursue. Calling on his connections at the county and state levels in order to leverage their more robust resources, Weston gathers a small team to investigate. However, the case barely gets off the ground when another faculty member goes missing during a fire at his home, and that won’t be the last. 

While Don Weston is the university chief of police and the most experienced on the case, the investigations are truly an ensemble performance. Weston earned his law enforcement chops over the years he spent working his way up through the ranks at the Philadelphia Police Department. He is joined by Detective Rick Walker from York County and Lt. Shane Mitchell representing the state, both of whom bring a hint of hero worship to the table, having heard Don’s praises sung by their respective supervisors before their assignments. 

The three conduct a steady and comprehensive investigation, the story unfolding in the style of a police procedural. Told mostly from Weston’s point of view, the reader gets a good idea of how he came to his position at Churchville and a feel for his prior successes in Philadelphia. Until the incidents of the story, he was experiencing a growing discontent with the unending sameness of his current job. He misses his wife, Helen, lost to cancer some years earlier, but uses her memory as a sounding board for his decision-making. All of this prepares the reader for Don’s eventual move to a new home and career at the opening of Blame It On the Moon. 

The plot is well-paced, and the action is tight. However, the names of the characters changed at times over the course of the story and need to be reviewed. 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. The acts are shocking and hard to read. The killer’s actions are measured and meticulous in their execution and performed with the perpetrator’s knowledge that he will never have to answer for what he has done, adding to the difficulty of the three investigators’ job. 

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.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.