I was really looking forward to reading Led By Lies. So rarely is a woman of color the protagonist in modern novels (or any novels). Lily Blanchette is a detective who finds herself investigating a series of murders as well as dealing with the deaths of her father and sister. Oh, and her marriage is troubled and there's another detective who's still in love with her. Plus her mom is a controlling jerk. Lots of stuff there to get wrapped up in.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to. I found the characters flat and the story unengaging. The main problem, I think, was there was too much telling and not enough showing. I know that's become quite the cliche to throw out there, but it really does affect how a novel is read, at least to me. I would rather experience a story through action instead of the author's exposition or offhand dialogue ("Oh, by the way, this happened." instead of This is happening!)

The pacing of Led By Lies is challenging. Chapters are very short and rarely contain more than one scene. Made for a very choppy read.

Also my favorite character in the book died way too soon. That person was the most interesting in the story and I was hoping to see a lot more of her.

That all said, I think Lily is potentially a good lead character and I loved reading a story where the characters weren't all white. I hope the rest of the books in the Lies series will improve. ( )