Newly minted lawyer Corrie Locke has taken a vow of abstinence. From PI work, that is. Until her best friend Michael finds his bully of a boss stabbed in the back after confronting him earlier that day. Michael panics, accidentally tampering with the crime scene…which could lead the cops to Michael instead of the real culprit. He turns to Corrie to track down the killer. She doesn’t need much … much coaxing. Her late great PI dad taught her the ropes…and left her his cache of illegal weaponry.
They return to the scene of the crime, but the body’s missing. Racing against time, Corrie dredges a prestigious Los Angeles college in pursuit of clues. All she finds are false leads. Armed with attitude and romantic feelings toward Michael, Corrie dives into a school of suspects to find the slippery fugitive. Will she clear Michael’s name before he’s arrested for murder?
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Synopsis:
Newly minted lawyer Corrie Locke has taken a vow of abstinence. From PI work, that is. Until her best friend Michael finds his bully of a boss stabbed in the back after confronting him earlier that day. Michael panics, accidentally tampering with the crime scene…which could lead the cops to Michael instead of the real culprit. He turns to Corrie to track down the killer. She doesn’t need much coaxing. Her late great PI dad taught her the ropes…and left her his cache of illegal weaponry.
They return to the scene of the crime, but the body’s gone missing. Racing against time, Corrie dredges a prestigious Los Angeles college in pursuit of clues. All she finds are false leads. Armed with attitude and romantic feelings toward Michael, Corrie dives into a school of suspects to find the slippery fugitive. Will she clear Michael’s name before he’s arrested for murder? (Goodreads)
Review:
The characters are well rounded and well developed. I thought Corrie was so funny and I laughed a lot while reading this book. She is smart, feisty and caring. She will do anything for her friends, even break the law. Michael, her best friend, is also a great character. He is not as gutsy as Corrie, and he tries very hard to stay on the straight and narrow. The two of them are very opposite and that made for some very funny situations. The secondary characters added a lot to the story and I am glad I got to meet them all.
The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The plot is more dialogue driven (that is not to say that there is not a lot of action because there is) and in my opinion, that adds a lot of enjoyment when reading. The mystery is well plotted and there are so many clues to sift through that it seems like an impossible task. The twists and turns just keep on coming, I was afraid I might get whiplash reading this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well plotted cozy mystery. If you like funny characters, hilarious situations and some laugh out loud moments, then this book is for you.
I received an ARC of this book prior to publication and I voluntarily reviewed it and the opinions are my own.
MURDER GONE MISSING: A Southern California Mystery by Lida Sideris is the second book in the Corrie Locke series. It can definitely be read as a standalone book. It’s a story of murder, mystery and showing that friendship knows no bounds.
Corrie Locke has recently passed the bar and has become a lawyer in the entertainment industry with hopes of moving up in her career. Doing PI work – again – is furthest thing she intends to do. That is until her best friend, Michael, who she has found she had more than friendly thoughts of, finds himself involved in the murder of his boss, college president MacTavish. The fact that “Mac” had just recently demoted him and that he mistakenly through nervousness handled some of the evident makes him a likely suspect. It becomes even more mysterious and finger pointing when the body comes up missing.
Corrie’s late father was a well-known PI and it seems some of his talents remain with Corrie including a box of his illegal weaponry. Some of her “talents” seem to get them deeper into trouble than to help solve the crime of who killed Mac. Along the way there are hints that Corrie’s father is still alive. After all, no one say his supposedly dead body.
James Zachary, Michael’s best other best friend, is the assistant district attorney for Orange County. He’s spot on to help as well. It seems that a past of working with Corrie and mixed feelings of an old crush Corrie had for him seems at time to make them more at odds than working together.
You can find a little bit of everything in this book. There’s humor as Corrie figures ways to break in to her Mom’s house to “borrow” clothes for her high profile job, some of the characters like Veera or events like pig stealing or finding a set of dentures in the pigsty. There’s also sweetness as you see Corrie trying to figure out her old crush with James and her very true feelings for Michael. There’s danger and excitement through Corrie being injected with truth serum and as you see the murderer getting closer and it’s a matter of who finds who first. Through it all, it’s all about finding out who did murder Mac and clearing Michael of any wrong doing and eventually contacting the authorities.
MURDER GONE MISSING is a cozy mystery that I enjoyed reading and will keep my eyes open for book #3 in this series. I’d be curious to see if there is more to Corrie’s father still being alive and the developing relationship between Corrie and Michael.
This was a fun read. It is the second in the series, but the first I have read. The mystery had plenty of surprises. The characters were varied and a lot of fun. I giggled as I read, rolled my eyes a couple of times, and did not want to stop reading. I recommend this read.
I received a copy of this ARC through Goddessfish Promotions, and this is my unsolicited review.