Author: Judi Lynn
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781516108404
Lyrical Underground
206 Pages
$7.29; $4.99 Amazon
April 23, 2019
⭐⭐⭐
When established house flippers Jazzi Zanders and her cousin Jerod donate a week's worth of remodeling work to Jazzi's sister Olivia, they're expecting nothing more than back-breaking roofing work and cold beers at the end of each long, hot day. With Jazzi's live-in boyfriend and partner Ansel on the team, it promises to be a quick break before starting their next big project -- until Leo, an elderly neighbor of Olivia's, unexpectedly goes missing...
When the friendly senior's dog tugs Jazzi and the guys toward the wetlands beyond Olivia's neighborhood, they stumble across a decomposing corpse -- and a lot of questions. With Jazzi's pal Detective Gaff along to investigate, Jazzi finds her hands full of a whole new mystery instead of the usual hammer and nails. And this time it will take some sophisticated sleuthing to track down the culprit of the deadly crime -- before the killer turns on her next...
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Jazzi Zanders and her house flipping partners, cousin Jerod and live-in boyfriend Ansel, are doing some work for her sister Olivia on Olivia's new home. While there, Jazzi meets one of Olivia's neighbors, an elderly man named Leo who is out walking is dog. Jazzi learns from the man that there have been some mysterious goings-on in the neighborhood, including a young man named Miles who's gone missing. Jazzi hopes it's not another death, after being involved in her own murder investigation of a relative recently.
But when the dog finds Jazzi one day, and Leo is missing, she decides to let him have his lead, and he takes her directly to a shallow grave. Calling on her friend homicide detective Gaff, it turns out to be Miles. But that's not all -- there's another grave, and another body. Now Jazzi worries that Leo is also dead, and hopes it's not the case. Unfortunately, there's more to the story, and Jazzi can't help but get involved, even if it puts her own life on the line.
To make things worse, Ansel's sister comes calling, asking for his help. When his family turned him out, he vowed never to go back. But being pressured to help, he needs to leave for a couple of weeks, and Jazzi wonders if it's going to break their relationship. Still, with a killer on the loose, she needs to stay alert and hope for the best...
This is the second book in the series, and I wanted to love it. Unfortunately, I didn't. I just found that it read more like a romance with a little mystery in it, and it should have been the other way around. I also thought it was rather an affront to those in the military, who are gone for months from their spouses and don't worry, while Jazzi is worried about a couple of weeks? My husband was gone for months and we never gave each other a thought as to this happening -- and that was even before we were married! So you can see why this would grate on me just a tad.
Then there's the fact that Gaff took her everywhere with him. What police detective would do this? You don't take civilians to question suspects, or visit them. Anyone who's ever read a police procedural would know this. It bothered me also a bit that this was so far off the mark. Also, all they ever drink is beer and wine. Where are the beer bellies? They aren't working all the time. Have these people ever heard of water or iced tea?
Then there's the bedroom antics. It's a mystery, and there was just too much. We get that they have the hots for each other. We get that it's a blooming relationship. We just don't need to know that when they're not working they're hitting the sheets...all the time. It takes away from the mystery, which is why I bought the book in the first place. Also, I knew who the murderer was the minute that person stepped on the page, but I do read a lot of these, so that's not a big deal and I wouldn't have allowed it to take away my enjoyment of the book at all.
But because of the above reasons, I didn't even care about the deceased persons, and I should have. But there wasn't enough to care about. It was all Jazzi and Ansel's sex lives and the food she made every Sunday for her family. This could have been a better book, and I wish it had been. However, since I did like the first in the series I am going to read the third and hope it picks up again to more of a mystery.
More on Judi Lynn's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/judi-lynn/
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