Liars All (2020) (BrodieFarrell #9) by Jo Bannister. I made the mistake of reading this book as it is the last of a series of books . So much of this story is a summing up of what had gone before. There is a half that is a separate case, very much apart from the “family” story that inhabits the other half. I’m not going to discuss it beyond saying it appears to wrap up an ongoing love/hate story,
The other part is a search for a missing item. A young man proposes to his girl at a restaurant, giving her a beautiful necklace with a one of a kind sapphire in it. As they leave the place they are ruthlessly run down and the killer leaps out and steals the jewels.
The young man dies and his never-to-be bride is left dependent on a wheel chair. The killer/thief is caught a few days later, tried and sent to prison. Police can not locate the jewels. The prisoner’s mother, feeling terrible over the whole thing, enlists the “Looking For Something” agency to find it. Daniel Hood, temporarily running the shop, takes the case but is hopelessly out of his depth. But he is persistent, and asks questions among the wrong people. He is given a beating which convinces the police Daniel is onto something. Of course this beating only motivates Daniel all the more.
I enjoyed this book and the diligence of Daniel Hood, but the other half, the portion that I wasn’t already read into, caused me many distractions. The ending of that half made me feel bad for all involved, but again, this was my first Jo Bannister (an excellent writer) novel. I suggest that if you haven’t read the others in this series, you do so in order and perhaps you will get more enjoyment from the whole thing than I did with just this one. ( )

An excellent murder mystery that looks at what is a lie. We all lie whether by omission or if we think we are sparing someone's feelings. We lie for many reasons and Bannister looks at this in a unique way as she weaves this theme throughout solving of the murder. I came away from this book with an appreciation of Jo Bannister as an author and a desire to share this story with other people. ( )

I had forgotten how much I dislike Brodie, who is a bee-yotch, and Daniel, who is a wuss. ( )