'A Simple Mistake & A Forgotten Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1–2)' by Alice Winters
- Reed
- Dec 23, 2025
- 2 min read
Author: Alice Winters
Rating: B-
Vibe: Dexter-lite with banter, a body count, and a cat named Lucy Fur
Let's start with what you're signing up for. In A Simple Mistake, Liam is a homicide detective with a secret. He's also a serial killer who targets murderers who slipped through the system—he's like a gay Dexter. When his partner Gabriel catches him standing over a fresh body, Gabriel gives him an ultimatum—leave the force, never kill again, and they can pretend this never happened. Liam agrees. Then, a year later, Gabriel gets kidnapped by a serial killer targeting cops, and Liam comes roaring back, ready to burn the world down to save the only person he's ever loved.
A Forgotten Mistake picks up shortly after, with Liam and Gabriel now together. But domesticity comes with its own challenges: Liam's competing with Gabriel's demon cat for affection, reluctantly meeting Gabriel's parents, and—oh right—hunting another killer. When Liam's foster sister shows up at a crime scene connected to a string of murders, his past starts clawing its way into the present, threatening to expose secrets that could tear him away from Gabriel for good.
Here's the thing, you're going to need to suspend some disbelief. Gabriel falling for—and eventually passively participating in—Liam's vigilante justice is, frankly, silly. There's no grounded psychological arc that earns it. But I get the sense Winters wasn't interested in that. She wanted to throw two foils together and have some fun, and honestly? Fair enough. Once you accept the premise, the books move.
And they do move. These are thrillers, not whodunits—you're not piecing together clues so much as watching Liam tear through obstacles to protect his man. It's entertaining enough to keep you turning pages, though I never felt genuine tension. You always know the protagonists are going to be fine.
The dialogue has its moments. Winters is known for humor, and some of it lands here—particularly the running gag with Gabriel's cat, Lucille Pawl (Liam calls her "Lucy Fur," and their mutual hatred is genuinely funny). But other jokes fell flat for me, and I found myself wishing the books leaned harder into Liam's genius-detective brain. It's established that he's brilliant, but that brilliance rarely drives the main plot, which felt like a missed opportunity.
I liked the first book better than the second. A Forgotten Mistake leans more heavily into the relationship, which might sound like a good thing—except the romance itself feels underbaked. Gabriel, in particular, suffers. He's less a fully realized character than window dressing for Liam's obsessive devotion. And speaking of that devotion, Liam's constant professions of love started to wear on me. I get it, man. You'd die for him. Can we move on?
The spice level is decent, if that's what you're here for.
Look, these are beach reads. They're fun, they're fast, and they're not asking to be taken too seriously. But they're also the kind of books you'll forget the moment you put them down. If you're in the mood for a morally gray protagonist, some snappy banter, and a plot that doesn't require much from you, the Deadly Mistakes series will scratch that itch. Just don't expect it to linger.
