Blood Orange
In two years as a private investigator in Santa Barbara, Jaymie Zarlin has specialized in finding missing persons; murder, she feels, is out of her league. But urged on by her old flame, Deputy Sheriff Mike Dawson, and the suspect’s aunt, Gabi Gutierrez, an undocumented cleaning lady with aspirations, Jaymie agrees to look into the case of Danny Armenta, a mentally disabled man accused of the rape and murder of teenager Lili Molina. Since Lili was killed just after portraying Daphne on the Apollo Guild parade float in the annual summer-solstice celebration, Jaymie’s investigations—aided by Gabi, who’s set herself up as Jaymie’s personal assistant—center on the guild and take her into the haunts of the city’s privileged class, where she uncovers a terrible tradition seemingly based on droit du seigneur. Jaymie displays a complex personality, persistent to the point of foolhardiness and conflicted about personal relationships, with the backstory about the death of her beloved, mentally disabled brother still to be revealed. A briskly told tale with escalating danger, this debut mystery offers a promising start to a likely series. --Michele Leber