Book Review: Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage by James Stewart

“Tell me the man with who you go,” Amelia said.

“A man from L.A.”

James Stewart, Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage

Title: Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage: A True Story of Murder in San Diego’s Jazz Age
Author: James Stewart
Genres: Non-fiction, True Crime
Pages: 347 (Kindle)
Published: October 5th, 2021

My Rating: ★★★ ½
Read: 6/2/2022 – 6/5/2022

Review:

A roaring 20s true crime story? I was immediately intrigued! I feel like I’ve heard about Fritzie Mann somewhere before, but I could be confusing her story with someone else’s.

First off, I have to say kudos to James Stewart and his dedication to the research. He took a good look at every angle of the puzzle, putting them together and speculating what might have happened. The pictures were also a great addition. As for the writing, it dragged in places for me and I didn’t feel my interest consistently held, but there were some interesting bits that made up for the others. Overall, a good true crime read, especially if you like the pre-forensic era and speculation.

Thanks to BookSirens for providing a free review copy. I am leaving my thoughts voluntarily.

Afterthoughts:

A lot of time when I read non-fiction books (especially true crime) I Google the subjects out of further curiosity. I was surprised how little there is out there about Fritzie Mann. Most of what I saw at a quick glance were newspaper archives. This made me appreciate the research that went into this book even more. I believe it was nearly a decade.

Where to buy the book:

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