Jane Avery is at her graduation from law school. Just as she's about to walk across the stage as part of the ceremony Jane scans the audience, noticing that her mother is missing. Which is odd. Alexis Avery, one of the top private eye's in Denver, does not just go missing. After the ceremony Jane's worry increases when she finds her mother's car in the parking lot with the window smashed in. Unsure what else to do Jane begins to dig into the last case Alexis was working on. The investigation soon leads Jane down a dark rabbit hole of kidnapping, bribery, blackmail, hired assassins, and murder.

Private Lies is the first in the Jane Avery Mysteries by Cynthia St. Aubin. Jane is quite a character. She's brash, foul-mouthed, obsessed with sex (though she never gets any), overly snarky and a pathological liar. It was very hard to like her in the beginning and I didn't find her a very believable 28 year old - she acted more like she was 18, not someone who had been seriously studying law. The supporting cast is mostly male, all of which are ultra hot. Now that I think about it, it's almost a YA mystery/romance that never quite gets to the sex. Anyway, it took me about half the story to warm up to Jane and to find her antics funny. The dialog is heavy on the snarky banter which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. The story was light and fluffy, though eye-roll inducing at times. Not a bad little mystery. I'll probably look up the second book at some point. ( )

Jane Avery's mother walked out of Jane's law school graduation ceremony, something Jane knew could never ever happen. Something bad pulled Mrs. Avery away, probably something to do with her work as a private eye. Jane sets out to find her and we follow along.

Jane is the new style detective – young, brash and female. She likes sex and she has a big mouth attached to a smart brain with a few loose wires. Too young to be emotionally complex, an easy character to write.

More interesting is the villain Mr. Valentine. It's extraordinary how he can be a captain of business and a lush.

I am sure the Jane Avery series will be popular. It just seems as if I have been reading the same book a lot recently.

I received a review copy of "Private Lies: Jane Avery Mysteries, Book 1" by Cynthia St. Aubin (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com. ( )

Fun read!

So when Kerrigan Byrne (one of my fav author's) said this was a great read, I just had to follow suit. And it is a great read! Jane Avery is a fabulous character, with an unusual mother and and even more unusual upbringing. Having just graduated from law school, and having missed out on being valedictorian by three-tenths of a GPA point ( pay attention this slim margin is a recurring mantra for our girl), Jane steps off the stage of her graduation ceremony to find her mother has disappeared.
When I say Jane's upbringing was unusual, I mean UNUSUAL! Did I mention that Alex Avery is a Private Investigator
Put that together with Jane's quest for her mother's whereabouts, various hard ball characters, the laconic Jane with a mouth that opens and utters, well, amazing things, and you have a fun, eye blinking sort of read.

A NetGalley ARC ( )