Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg

Item: Murder by Design
Rating: 5
Author: BaronessMom

Posted June 1, 2026 by BaronessMom in Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Murder by Design

by Lee Goldberg

Series: Edison Bixby #1
Series Rating:

Published by Thomas & Mercer on June 1, 2026
Setting: California
Genres: Private Investigator Mystery
Pages: 239
Format: Audible Audiobook, Audiobook, ebook, Kindle, Paperback
Source: the Publisher
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon

In a world carefully constructed for murder, solving crimes takes a keen mind and eye in a witty, clever, and fresh reinvention of the whodunit by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

Edison Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and, due to a traumatic brain injury, impulsively rude. He’s also a brilliant insurance investigator who solves baffling crimes by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible. Enter Wally Nash: a struggling actor hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets.

Their first case together looks like a simple accident. Caroline Crowley took a nasty fall down a staircase at a shopping mall in front of dozens of witnesses. Video clearly shows the deadly misstep. But Bixby is certain she was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. The mall itself made the crime intentional, if not inevitable.

Now Bixby must prove his outrageous theory before a very cunning killer gets others on his hit list to murder themselves, too.

Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg is brilliant! I love the whole concept.

Will Edison and Wally figure out who is behind the murders?

Wally Nash

Wally is the sidekick. Although he wants to be an actor and writer, he is struggling at both. The thing about Wally is that he is good at crafting a character’s life story, even when he is asked to portray a silent, unnamed subject. He gets to the heart of the person and decides what motivates them and why. His imagination is amazing. Pairing him with Edison is genius. The two of them truly play well off of each other.

I like Wally. His job is a lot, but the benefits are great. Let’s hope he gets to keep his job.

Edison Bixby

Edison is the main investigator. He is the Holmes or Batman in the duo. Edison’s parents died when he was in his teens. However, he has extensive funds, a beautiful home, multiple cars, and a high IQ. Yet he needs Wally to balance out his disability, or blunt frankness, or lack of filter. I think they all apply. You see, in his past, he upset the wrong woman, and she shot him. Now he can’t hold his tongue. Whatever he thinks, he says. This is why Wally is there: to smooth over the comments and make apologies. Some of his comments, though, are horrible; even Wally is embarrassed.

Wow, Edison, do I like him? Yes, even though he is conceited and at times absurd, he is fantastic. He makes me laugh, and his mind moves extremely fast. Some of this, I believe, has to do with his upbringing, and some is just his blown-up head. Either way, he is an outstanding character.

The Cases

Edison is an insurance investigator. He can’t work for the police department, but he is still a top-notch detective. So, he is assigned cases by the insurance company. Many of these cases overlap with LAPD and his old team. He sees the cases very differently from the investigating officer in most cases. However, are they connected? This is one of the things that Edison has to figure out. Wally does assist with the jobs, but Edison is truly the responsible one.

Five Stars

My rating for Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg is five stars. I love how well Mr. Goldberg meshes the real world, Hollywood, and police procedures. Edison may have surpassed some of Lee’s other characters’ quirkiness. This is a series to read. I am so looking forward to the next installment. Who knows what Edison will get called to do? Yes, I recommend reading this. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

Check out the interview with Lee Goldberg from a few years ago HERE.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg.

Until the next time,

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About Lee Goldberg

New York Times Bestselling author Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee.

Goldberg broke into television with a freelance script sale to Spenser: For Hire. Since then, his TV writing & producing credits have covered a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi (seaQuest), cop shows (Hunter, The Glades), martial arts (Martial Law), whodunits (Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe), the occult (She-Wolf of London), kid’s shows (R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room), T&A (Baywatch, She Spies), comedy (Monk) clip shows (The Best TV Shows That Never Were) and total crap (The Highwayman, The New Adventures of Flipper).

He’s written and produced TV shows in Canada (Murphy’s Law, Cobra, Missing), England (Stick With Me Kid, She Wolf of London) and Germany (Fast Track: No Limits). His mystery writing for television has earned him two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.

His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. His Monk novels have been translated and published in Germany, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, and many other countries.

In addition to his writing, he’s worked as an international TV development expert and consulting producer for production companies and major networks in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

But perhaps he’s best known for his pioneering work mapping the human genome and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his daughter and still sleeps in Man From U.N.C.L.E. pajamas.