[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Lyla Moody is the receptionist for her uncle’s private investigation business and a mystery buff. But she doesn’t expect to be personally caught up in a case in real life.
Carol Timms is a member of the Jane Doe Book Club with Lyla. So when the black BMW almost mows Lyla down, she recognizes Carol in the driver’s seat. She doesn’t get a good look at the person with her, but Lyla can tell Carol’s upset. But she never says anything to Lyla. She only drives away.
A hour later, Judge Timms, Carol’s husband, calls the PI office to hire Lyla’s Uncle Calvin. The judge claims Carol has either gone missing or been abducted.
When Lyla and her best friend Melanie find Carol’s body stuffed in a suitcase and left by Lyla’s door, all their mystery and true crime reading for the Jane Doe Book Club becomes all too real. Who could have killed Carol? Did it have to do with her time in therapy with Lyla’s father? Where there problems in her marriage? Could it be over money? Or does it have anything to do with the cold cases Carol wanted the book club to look into?
Lyla and Mel are determined to find out, both to clear Mel and Lyla’s father of suspicion, but also to ensure closure for their friend.
Review
The case at the center of this mystery is captivating. The Janes are drawn in not only because of Carol’s death but also because of the cold cases she wanted the group to look into. The book group didn’t feel very cohesive, and sometimes they didn’t even seem like friends, which was odd. I expected a cozier group for the namesake of the series. But I did like Lyla and Mel quite a bit, and I enjoyed watching them work through the case. I’m not sure if the author is setting up a romance for Lyla or a love triangle. We’ll have to see how things unfold as the series moves forward.
The author does almost too good a job in coming into the story in the middle of the action. There are references to Lyla’s past obsession with cold cases and subsequent therapy, but I didn’t feel like this was fully explained or explored. It made me feel like I missed a book in the series. I don’t mind that when I start a series with a later book, but this is the introduction to the series, so I want to feel like I have a great handle on the people, the setting, and the context.
The hints about Lyla’s mom’s past are intriguing. Those felt like teasers for something to dig into in a later book, and that was perfectly comfortable for me. I did have a hard time liking her mom, though. She runs hot and cold to the extreme, which started to wear on me in this book. Maybe with more of her backstory, she will either be more sympathetic, or she will relax some of her tight control because she isn’t trying to shield Lyla from the past any more.
The mystery was a mixed bag for me. I picked out the culprit the first time they appeared in the book. I like to work through the clues in mysteries and see if I can tease out the ending before the protagonist, so I was disappointed to figure it out right away. Some of the rest of the case felt scattered – like things were thrown at the wall to see what stuck. Instead of being intrigued by all of the possibilities, they were distracting instead. I do wonder, though, if I would have felt differently about those pieces if I didn’t already know who did it.
There are some solid pieces to this that I loved – Lyla, Mel, Lyla’s grandmother, and Lyla’s job. I might give the second book a shot to see if some other the other pieces tighten up in book 2. (Some language, a few gruesome descriptions.)
Rating: ♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥=Good/solid/fine