Bad karma, a rival suitor, and a deadly attack are enough to put a damper on any date. Just when Adina’s social life is looking up, her night out is interrupted by the scream of police sirens. Afraid her bartender boyfriend might be accused of murder, Adina’s neighbor enlists her assistance, and in the process exposes her to the seamier side of illegal immigration and crime in the city. Hard as … city. Hard as she tries to limit her involvement, the more Adina learns, the more she needs to know – until a case of mistaken identity lands her in hot water. Will she uncover the truth before it’s too late?
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I listened to the audiobook version of this novel. The narrator does an excellent job differentiating characters and denoting emotions.
Adina Donati works in Washington D.C. and volunteers at an animal shelter. She comes into contact with a variety of personalities and nationalities daily. She also sporadically dates.
After meeting a detective at a murder case, they dated a few times. Her mother approved.
This time she is on a date with another shelter volunteer, meeting a friend at a restaurant where she works. When disaster happens, who gets called to the scene, but Adina’s own detective.
You can imagine how awkward this is.
Murder is never pleasant but seems even worse when it affects someone you know.
Adini is determined to help her friend, Elena, who seems to have some secrets in her background.
In helping her, Adini ends up in a very precarious situation. Can she remember how to help herself?
A very dangerous case, even when Adini tried only to help out and not get overly involved.
There is some information of a political nature as well as major international crime connections.
Intense for a cozier mystery, but not graphic.
Unique for a cozy, this is set in Washington DC and the “cozy small town” feel is through the Think Tank company Adina works at and the animal shelter. Adina’s curiosity is her primary motivation and she is a strong, smart female sleuth.
This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. This is book two and each book is a standalone mystery so you don’t need to have read or listened to the first book to follow or enjoy. The mystery was interesting and had a lot going on, the code cracking and the way she worked it out was good. The start of the book hooked me but I must admit I sort of got lost in the middle with all the immigration talk (still not total sure why that was relevant, perhaps it will make more sense when I re listen to the story, which I will do) but it soon picks up. There was only a short visit to the dog shelter (which I really enjoyed in the first book) but her love life certainly picks up and I like who she ends up with. Looking forward to seeing how the relationship and next mystery progresses.
Adina’s is out on a date recommend by her neighbour and friend Elena but the night is interrupted by the police when her friends new boy friend Rafael is badly beaten up in an alleyway behind the restaurant. He is taken to the hospital but the other guy ends up in the morgue. He doesn’t want to talk to the police because even through he is in the country legally his cousin Tony is not and he fears the man was looking for him, who has gone missing. Then his cousin turns up dead in the back of the car trunk Rafael owns. The police start to look at Elena and Rafael closer and in the process uncover some secrets. Just how well does Adina know her friend? And could her new boyfriend be responsible for his cousins death? It seems Tony was into some shady business that involved gangs and now he has dragged Elena, Rafael and even Adina into the middle of it all.
The narrator was okay, she did give the characters different sounding voices but seemed to pause for too long when it wasn’t necessary, other than that I enjoyed the book.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.