THE FIRST ONE TO DIE

5 stars out of 5

Four things I gravitate toward when I have a spare 15 or 20 minutes: Playing word puzzles on my smartphone, seeing what my family and friends are up to on Facebook, looking for a snack in the kitchen cupboard and polishing off another chapter or two of whatever book I'm reading. Accordingly, one of the ways I know I'm loving the book I'm reading is when the other three options go by the boards.

That certainly was the case here - so besides being a little hungry, I'm now faced with major catching up to do on my phone and Facebook.

This is the second book featuring South Wales detective partners Alex King and Chloe Lane, and I admit I didn't read the first, The Girls in the Water. No matter; at no time did I notice any "holes" that made me wonder what had gone on before. As this one begins, Chloe is bunking with Alex and contemplating a more permanent hookup with another department detective. Alex's mostly estranged mother has taken a turn for the worse health-wise, and a young woman named Keira North took a fatal fall from an open window during a party. The latter looks like an accident, but to Alex and Chloe, it doesn't pass the smell test.

As they begin to investigate, they quickly learn that four of Keira's housemate friends may not be as innocent as they appear. And then - just when they start to think they're on the right track - another one bites the dust. Yet another cog hits the wheel when a young woman ends up in the hospital following an overdose; that case, too, lands squarely in the laps of Alex and Chloe. 

Could it be that someone is trying to wipe out all of Keira's housemates one by one? If so, why - and perhaps more important, who? And while no one thinks the murders and overdose cases are connected, the way things are going, anything is possible. The result is that Alex and Chloe are led in many directions, providing twists, turns and surprises for readers as well.

All in all, this is a very well-written book with interesting characters - and a series I've put on my must-read list going forward. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.

The First One to Die by Victoria Jenkins (Bookouture, November 2017); 346 pp.