She wanted to make her mark. How hard could it be? In 2130, at Bijoux de L’Etoile, a high-end casino orbiting Earth, you can get anything you desire. Newly-hired as an investigator, Janey McCallister wants to solve her first big case—the theft of a priceless gem. When her case of theft escalates to murder and points to the seedy underbelly of world affairs, Janey has to rely on her new team and … underbelly of world affairs, Janey has to rely on her new team and trust the mysterious insurance investigator, Orlando Valdez—before a killer escapes into the black.
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Into The Black is perfect for fans of J.D. Robb’s Eve Dallas books and Killjoys and CSI. It contains a slow-burn romance, enhanced humans, cool high-tech gadgets, a futuristic vision of the Earth, and a tough heroine with secrets.
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Janey McCallister Mystery series
Into The Black (Book 1)
Lured By Light (Book 2)
Gone Green (Book 3)
Red Running Deep (Book 4)
Other Books By Beth Barany
Henrietta The Dragon Slayer YA Adventure Fantasy series (3 books)
Touchstone series, sweet sensual paranormal romance (5 books)
more
This is Book 1 in the Janey McCallister Mystery series. The main character is an investigator at a casino on the space station. Her assignment is to catch a pick pocket. I like that she took this job to help support her mom. I also like that this series is set in the future. I like the futuristic technology. There is also good chemistry between the characters. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
This was an interesting blend of mystery and science fiction. I know the description includes romance, but I kind of wasn’t really feeling it. It seemed more like overwhelming lust, barely resisted, than any actual love or romance. I got a bit of a Castle vibe from this story, but I could just be having a Nathan Fillion moment because there’s a piece of the plot that seems like it could have been heavily inspired by Serenity. I liked that we get to follow the clues with Janey and Orlando. I had lots of suspicions about who could be the villain, but nothing definite until the right person was brought into custody. Now we know who, but not the full story of why. In fact, there are several different plot threads that don’t get fully tied off by the end of the book. I’m very curious to see which ones get picked up and carried deeper into the series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Hidden Gems Books.
This was an interesting book. It had an out of this world (pun intended) world that is built. It’s made from scratch and in depth, full setting of this imaginary place.
The main character Janey was also someone who had some pretty good depth and it became easy to become a cheerleader for her success. She was smart, tough, loving towards her mother, and the reader also gets to see her flaws too.
Orlando Valdez, wow what a complex person he was. Interesting but he also kept not only Janey confused, he also had me wondering what his deal was.
Speaking of confusing, there were times that I was almost as confused as Janey as to what was going on. Don’t get me wrong, it made the story even better for me.
I usually like my stories to have some romance in them and this one had two people off balance with each other. Oh, the attraction was there and some flirting with a promise of maybe more but that was it.
Everything comes to a good conclusion with a peek into the next book in the series.
One question that I didn’t feel got answered was, what was going on with her enhancement? Still, it was such a well written story, I didn’t hold that against the author.
By the way,I loved this eBook cover!
“I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
This was a quick, enjoyable read set in a well thought out future world. The crime plot was fairly simplistic and perhaps more suited for a cosy mystery than an edgier police procedural, but it worked well enough.
What I didn’t care for was the romance plot. It was insta-love after a few hours of acquaintance, and then Janey played hot and cold with Orlando, as if she had to be assured of happily ever after before she could even kiss him. I found the romance all the more difficult to root for because I wasn’t at all attracted to Orlando, on top of which his constant lies made it impossible for me to trust him as a romantic lead.
Janey was an oddly out-of-sync character, with too much past that both affected her actions and didn’t affect them enough, so that her reactions tended to be all over the place. The cast of secondary characters was odd too, especially the chef with her own bodyguards. Nevertheless, I might be tempted to read the next book too.
I love this new series by Beth. While I normally read romances, this SciFi mystery has a sprinkling of tension between Janey and Orlando that will be fun to watch in upcoming books. I enjoyed the mystery of a stolen gem as it morphed into a murder mystery the duo had to learn to solve together. Gonna get the second book, “Lured by the Light” as soon as I can!