Catherine Maiorisi

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars

Detectives Chiara Corelli and P.J. Parker catch a murder case where the body is found in a local park. They quickly ascertain that robbery is not the motive. As they begin peeling back the layers, they find their victim was a well-know investigative journalist who was not what he seemed to be. The journalist had another life in which he amassed a fortune blackmailing people in a clever scheme to keep his identity a secret.

This book doesn’t allow for the possibility that someone who hasn’t read the first three books in the series might be interested in reading this book and the series. That’s unfortunate because Maiorisi gives no background on the main characters other than the occasional throw-away comment. The reader is left to wonder while the author introduces dozens of characters without explaining who they are other than cops, agents, or even if they are important to this story beyond a brief appearance.

This is not your typical LesFic novel in that there is no romance to speak of. The main character Corelli may or may not be involved with a woman named Brett, who is mentioned several times in the early chapters, but never introduced to the reader in any detail. You learn more about the main characters at the end of the book, but by then it’s too late. Many LesFic authors manage to have their characters have interesting jobs while at the same time having a life outside their careers. Unfortunately, Maiorisi is not one of them.

If you want to read this series, you’d be well-served to start with book one and hopefully the author introduces her main characters there. The author, on the other hand, would be sell-served to read authors like Louise Penny, Charles Todd, and P.D. James to learn how they re-introduce their on-going characters in each new book in their series without boring their on-going readers to tears and not having their new readers flinging their books across the room because they’re bored to tears since they don’t know who they’re reading about.

My thanks to Bella Books and NetGalley for an eARC.… (altro)