I really enjoyed the first three books in this series of a private investigations team who work to solve mysteries on the islands of the Pacific Northwest, with previous books set on Gabriola, Whidbey and Quadra islands, so I was really looking forward to reading the next installment in the series. I love how Noel is based on the Canadian side of the boarder, operating out of his home in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, while Kyra is based on the US side of the border, operating out of her home in Bellingham, Washington. Considering they always travel to the "scene of the crime", this company set up works well. I did like how our former investigative journalist 'I don't like guns' Noel is learning how to shoot a gun and now has a licensed Beretta so that the company has a gun on each side of the border and that he is getting a little more relaxed with Kyra's less than above border investigative (B&E) approach to crime solving. The attention to detail is good without being boring and while I like that the authors bring a lot of the personalities and personal histories of Noel and Kyra into the stories, this time Kyra's rather single-minded focus on her current personal issue started to grate on me. This story also seemed jumped around more than previous ones so I found it easy to get distracted and as a result I developed a bit of a ho-hum response to all that was happening as I was reading it. A slightly less than average read this time from a series that has caught my interest, and not just because of it Pacific Northwest setting. There are still a number of islands in the Pacific Northwest where they can set future stories so I am hoping the authors regroup their writing and go back to a formula more focused on the mystery and less focused on the personal side of the investigative team.

.... and before anyone in the know says "Wait a minute, there isn't a university on San Juan Island.", the authors do admit to taking artistic license when they placed Morsely University on the island - and a very lovely one it is, based on how it is described and the history they created for it! - for the purposes of this story so if that type of fictionalization of the island will annoy you, I suggest you don't read the book. ( )