ARC Review: The Myth Makers by Alie Dumas Heidt

The Myth Maker
Author: Alie Dumas Heidt
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (July 8, 2025)

Description: Someone is killing women and staging their bodies in strange, evocative scenes in this Greek-mythology-inspired serial killer thriller perfect, for fans of Alex Michaelides and Tana French.

Cassidy Cantwell has devoted her life to becoming a detective, never forgetting the cold case that has influenced her entire career: the unsolved murder of her best friend. Cassidy tries to balance her demanding job with her suffocatingly close-knit family and her increasingly clingy boyfriend, but when a strange new murder case comes across her desk, she’s determined to solve it, especially when it turns out the victim was the wife of her college ex-boyfriend.

While Cassidy’s partner, Bryan, works to prove that her ex is their suspect, Cassidy can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more to the case that they’re not seeing. After the medical examiner finds a strange ring among the victim’s personal effects that the husband insists didn’t belong to his wife, Cassidy is struck by similarly odd details from a previous crime scene—details that seem to have an uncanny connection to a Greek myth.

When another body attracts public attention and the FBI joins the hunt, the case gets increasingly complicated–and solving it seems further and further out of reach. With anonymous taunts about her best friend’s death dragging her attention away, Cassidy finds herself pulled in different directions–sacrifice her personal life for the sake of her career, or put everything she has into finding years-old answers to a case that haunts her still.

And the killer behind the murders isn’t done yet.

My Thoughts: Rookie police detective Cassidy Cantwell gets involved in a baffling serial killer case. The killer is staging each of his female victims as goddesses from Greek mythology. Their first victim happens to be married to her college boyfriend.

As the cases pile up and the FBI gets involved, the team begins working almost around the clock which has severe consequences for Cassidy's own relationship with her boyfriend. He's tired of coming in third after her job and the investigation of the murder of her high school best friend some years earlier.

Jenna's murder becomes more than a bunch of notebook filled plastic bins when someone decides to start sending Cassidy mementos from their shared past. But Cassidy doesn't have time to pursue these new leads until the current killer is caught. 

This was a fast-paced and engaging thriller with an intriguing main character. My only complaint is that the cover doesn't seem to match the story within the book. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.