Plot or Premise

Two deaths get Kinsey off and running – the apparent mugging death of a low-rent private investigator known for cutting corners and a John Doe homeless guy who died with Kinsey’s business address in his pocket.

What I Liked

Kinsey gets involved with the homeless friends of the dead guy, and Felix, Pearl and Dandy are great to read about. She finds out who he was, locates some personal effects, a safety deposit box and a will…and the will has a plot twist the size of Everest. It is flat-out AWESOME. And Kinsey picks up some cousins.

What I Didn’t Like

The mystery takes a long time to get to the end, when the cause is obvious pretty fast.

The Bottom Line

Great plot twist, too long a story for what’s there.

Plot or Premise

Kinsey’s client thinks he remembers seeing two men digging a hole back when he was six years old, just days after a child’s kidnapping that subsequently ended tragically. Maybe it was the kidnappers?

What I Liked

The flashback story harkens back to a hippie-style couple living in a van in the driveway of his parents’ house, which was mildly interesting at first. The introduction of a reporter named Alvarez is good for future stories too. But the only really good part is filling in some of Aunt Ginny’s history, with old letters and a PI that was hired to look into Ginny’s parenting ability.

What I Didn’t Like

The flashback storyline removes almost any mystery or tension from the story. You know who the bad guys are way before Kinsey, and the storyline with the reporter holds some initial promise but ultimately goes nowhere. Just a lot of wasted time and space.

The Bottom Line

Nice ending, but the story feels like retread.

Plot or Premise

It’s a 35-year-old cold case of a missing mom, and the now 40-year-old daughter wants to know what happened to Violet.

What I Liked

Daughter Daisy needs to know what happened so she can move forward in her messed-up life — did Dad kill her? Did she run away? And why did she take the DOG but not her daughter? The people with info include the husband aka Daisy’s Dad, a babysitter who saw her get ready to go out, a best friend, a brother, a car salesman, some men at the local bar, etc. The story bops back and forth from the past to the present, like most cold cases do. And the tension ramps up when Kinsey finds out that not everyone seems to like her looking for Violet…either that or they just don’t like the tires on her car.

What I Didn’t Like

The characterizations of the kids and what they’re thinking or feeling back in ’53 seem “off”, more like adults guessing how they feel or act, and the interactions come off really clumsy. And I don’t think there is a single character that I actually like.

The Bottom Line

The story is okay but the characters are depressing.