Review: Interesting First Novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 12, 2013
This is an enjoyable read.  It is a cross between Janet Evanovich / Stephanie Bond style tales and the older Private Eye books written by authors such as John D. McDonald, Carter Brown and Richard Prather.Given that difference some female readers may be offended by the main characters drinking (she certainly seems to down a lot of scotch) and a couple of sidetracks in the story with some female/female sex that doesn't seem to lend anything to the story.There are a few typos involving verb tense  and shortly into the book the first several words at the start of the chapter are in all caps.Other than that the book is well written well paced and keeps your attention.  The characters are well developed.  Interestingly the author has created three categories of characters: the good, the bad and the bad but with code of conduct.  To say more would spoil the story for you.It is not a cozy and not really humorous in a Stephanie Plum type way but the author has a light touch and a readable style. A for romantic there are some sexual situations involving the main characters and her friends I don't know that I would call it romantic.  It really feels like one of the old PI novels.  I would class as a Light Mystery with some interesting characters that shows promise for future adventures of Ms. Black and her cohorts.I can find very little about this author and my assumption is that this is a pen name for an experienced author possibly in another genre.  The only reason I didn't give it five stars are the minor problems listed above.