Thirty-something Hetty, short for Henrietta, Carson is a sales rep for Mendoza’s Tequila Mixers which explains why her business card was found by the police investigating Gerry Delaney’s murder. She regularly visited the man’s bar hoping to make him a regular customer, but unfortunately, she was one of the last people to see him alive which is why she’s being mercilessly grilled by the unfriendly Detective Ed Malone. Hetty is also a licensed private detective, an interesting career choice precipitated by a divorce and imperative need for a job which is why she refuses to except the detective’s red flags that she is connected to a trail of gruesome multiple murders. Good that she’s an investigator…she’s going to need her own services when more murders occur flimsy linked to her and the bullets fly too close to her head.
Cheers! Right off, Vanessa A. Ryan puts our Hetty Carson under a dark cloud of suspicion to grab your attention, but just wait, there’s more! Several murders occur, most off the page, with surprising victims, but the cops are still setting their sights on Hetty. Suspects and motives are slowly exposed, but any link to Hetty can be refuted. Ryan ensures that several of her characters hide well their motivations including a fellow sales rep and an ex-husband. The pages are filled with dramatic intrigue, surprising details, and personal peril from which Hetty shows an aptitude to avoid...Duck! The conclusion has a realistic explanation for the readers’ closure and most people are held accountable, but the ex-husband’s curious pleas for help seemed unresolved. I greatly enjoyed the first-person narrative highlighting Hetty’s ideas, inner thoughts, and reflections, which seems to be the major part of the drama, and the dialogue was portrayed realistically. Frequently she made the statement “That is the trouble with murder,” related to the title, then cleverly offers insights to support Hetty’s inner banter.
Hetty Carson is an admirable character, surprisingly well-developed for a first book. She’s trying to deal with the aftermath related to her fall from the “Big Life” by taking poverty by the horns and keeping herself afloat, yet struggling as to whether or not she should just work for a paycheck or focus on a career she enjoys. She has already transitioned into life as a licensed private investigator, unlike some stories by other authors that have the protagonist fall into it, and in recognizing her opportunities, she embraces her inner detective. Couldn’t put it down, and look forward to the next one
Disclosure: I received an ARC from the author. My review is voluntary with honest insights and comments.
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