CITY OF SECRETS

4 stars out of 5

I've read three other books in this series and looked forward to this, the fourth. But although I admit to staying up later than my regular bedtime to finish this one, it's not my favorite of the bunch. Oh sure, I still love LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan and her crew, but there are just too many characters in too many different places for an aging brain like mine to keep straight. Otherwise, though, it's business as usual - and that usually means plenty of action.

This one begins with the discovery of a body in what seems to have been a car-jacking; the suspicions of Nolan and her partner Al Crawford are aroused, though, when it's discovered that the victim is the founder of a pet supply company that's grown by leaps and bounds and, as a result, about to be scarfed up by an even larger company for a paltry $100 million. 

Top company employees deny any notion of fraud or foul play at the business - one of them even conducted a thorough audit in recent months. And the plot thickens when the murdered man's wife is kidnapped - with zero indication of ransom or other conditions that must be met for her safe return.

After that, things tend to get wild and crazy, with characters coming from all over the map. And while all this is going on, Margaret's infatuation with fellow detective Remy Beaudreau (and his with her) is heating up amid questions about where it should go - if anywhere. More kidnappings and close calls happen all the way up to the end, when most of the situations are resolved (with one biggie left wide open for, I hope, the next installment. I'll be waiting - and meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this one.

City of Secrets by P.J. Tracy (Minotaur Books, August 2024); 298 pp.