Review of Call Me Carmela

Call Me Carmela is book 5 in the Dot Meyerhoff mystery series. It was honored as a Bronze Medallion Winner from the Public Safety Writers Association and a 2025 Killer Nashville Judges’ Top Pick.

More About Call Me Carmela

Police therapist Dot Meyerhoff helps a young woman find her birth parents and unburies dark family secrets in this psychological thriller. Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff’s caseload is usually filled with cops—which is why she’s hesitant to help an adopted teenager locate her birth parents. But the teen’s godmother is Dot’s dear friend Fran and a police widow to boot. How could Dot possibly say no?

Once Dot starts digging into the case, though, she’s drawn into a murky world of illegal adoptions and the choices a young pregnant woman might make as a last resort. Soon there’s only one thing Dot knows for sure: the painful truth of what happened all those years ago might heal one family—but it’s certain to destroy another.

More About Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D.

Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D. is a police psychologist. and clinician at the First Responders Support Network. She is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, The American Psychological Association, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Public Safety Writers Association. She is the recipient of the California Psychological Association’s award for distinguished contribution to psychology as well as the American Psychological Association’s award for outstanding contribution to the practice of police and public safety psychology. Ellen brings her expertise and decades-long experience to both fiction and non-fiction. She is the author of three non-fiction books and a five-book mystery series featuring police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff.

Catch Up With Ellen Kirschman:

Website: EllenKirschman.com

BookBub - @EllenKirschman

Instagram - @ellen.kirschman.copdoc

Facebook - @ellen.kirschman

Thoughts on Call Me Carmela

I was hungry while finishing Call Me Carmela, maybe that's why this thought popped into my head: this book is like popcorn popping. Remember how in the beginning nothing much is happening, then a few kernels pop, pop, pop then suddenly there's a raging pile of popcorn rat-a tatting at the edges of the popcorn maker. That was the pace of the action. First, things were pretty calm, then things happened - a thing here, a thing there, surrounded by some downtime and suddenly the action is fast and furious and taking your breath away. I couldn't read fast enough to get to the next development.

The author also did a great job with her teenaged characters. So authentic, all the things that we love and hate about teenagers were encapsuled in Ava and Cody. I also enjoyed the relationships between different characters, both the broken relationships and the supportive ones. I liked that this book balanced cop drama and family drama. Although this was Book 5 in the series, I found it easy to drop into the middle of the series. Just enough of the past is mentioned to help you better understand the behavior of returning characters -- and in my case, to make me want to read earlier books.

Ready to Read

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Thanks to Partners in Crime Tours for my review copy.