The Verifiers by Jane Pek

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

by Carol4 Comments
The Verifiers is a fun book, part mystery, part family drama, and part exploration of the data we provide online to corporations and how they might use that. Claudia Lin, our amateur detective, is the youngest, and at least according to her mom the least successful, of three siblings. She has left her low-level corporate job to work at Veracity, but she hasn't told her family. Claudia is a mystery lover and Veracity is a bit like a detective agency, allowing wealthy clients to investigate people they meet on dating sites. Veracity takes on a new client, a woman who wants them to investigate two men she met online, but whom she is no longer in contact with. At first, it's just interesting, but then the client is found dead in her apartment, an apparent suicide. Claudia is a likable character. She's smart and funny. She loves books and bicycling through New York. She's a lesbian and a romantic by...
Read More
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

by Carol2 Comments
Annie is back home after college, waitressing at the local diner and hanging out with her cousin and people she knew in high school. Her family is well known in town. Her grandfather used to be the sheriff, but now he owns a private investigation firm, run mostly by his partner, and drinks too much. When another waitress, Victoria, goes missing and is later found murdered, Annie is pulled in, needing to find the truth, and gets her grandfather involved too. Pay Dirt Road has a good sense of place. It's small-town Texas where land matters, where it's hard to keep secrets, where people without papers are afraid of the cops. It's a place where high school football carries a town's pride and the VFW turns into a honky tonk on Thursdays. It's a place Annie both loves and hates. Pay Dirt Road is a pretty standard mystery and Annie's not a great investigator. She shouldn't be. She's in her early twenties...
Read More
Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont

Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont

by CarolNo Comments
Poison Ivy is the 12th in the Bunburry mysteries and I don't think it would be as good as a standalone - half of the fun is knowing the characters and how their relationships work. I was quite happy that Oscar is in town for most of this one, along with the rest of the usual cast. Emma and Alfie are planning a surprise party for Marg and Liz. At the hotel, Alfie meets a beautiful interesting woman. It turns out she's an old acquaintance of Oscar's and he's sure she's a murderer. This was another good entry in the series. The mystery had a twist or two. The characters are their delightful selves and I like how some of the newer ones have settled into recurring roles. It was a nice way to spend a few hours....
Read More
What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman

What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman

by CarolNo Comments
What the Cat Knew is a paranormal cozy mystery that totally hooked me. Reg is tough, smart, and can run a good con, but is caring and loyal underneath it. She's setting up as a medium "for entertainment purposes only" in Black Sands, Florida. She has a couple of problems. First, turns out she actually is a medium and can contact the dead. Second, the man she contacts isn't actually dead. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. We've got our eccentric characters, this time witches and probably other magical creatures. Our amateur sleuth has a legitimate reason for investigating, apparently she's the only one who knows the man is still alive, but since he's in a coma she can still make contact. We've got a touch of romance, maybe, but I'm hoping that fades away. And there's Reg's cat, who I loved. The plot moves along quickly and it was a lot of fun. I'm not quite clear on what kind...
Read More
Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

by Carol6 Comments
Heaven, My Home is the follow-up to Bluebird, Bluebird and I really think they need to be read in order. Heaven, My Home has Texas Ranger Darren Matthews investigating a new case, a missing boy with connections to a white supremacist group, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT). But events from the first are still hanging over his head, threatening his career and marriage. In Jefferson, a 9-year-old boy, Levi King, was out at night in a ramshackle boat on Lake Caddo, but never makes it home. Levi is far from being a perfect child or even a nice child and his father is the head of the ABT, currently serving time in prison. An apparently reformed Bill is worried about Levi's disappearance, and Darren's boss sees the situation as a way to gain more information on the ABT. Locke sets the novel in the immediate aftermath of Trump's election and a Texas in which the repercussions are being felt in the...
Read More
The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

by Carol2 Comments
The Recovery Agent is super fun and over the top. Don't think about it too hard, just enjoy the ride - or jungle trek. Gabriela's family is in the midst of losing their home, their town, and their jobs after a hurricane did severe damage and they didn't receive any federal aid. Her grandma has a plan. Gabriela just needs to get the chest hidden for decades, over a century maybe, in her ex-husband's house and use the maps and journals to find a treasure. Of course, her ex-husband finds her when she's searching under his floors and decides he's going to tag along with her on the treasure hunt. They head to Peru, on the trail of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. Rafe, the ex-husband, and Gabriela are a good team, whether she wants them to be or not. The banter is funny and the chemistry is good. We've got a lot of chasing, globetrotting, drug...
Read More