This is the second in a series & after the events of the first, PI Janelle Watkins is now living in a motorhome in Greenville, California. She grew up here & the land is the only thing her monster of a father ever gave her. The fact he had the decency to die first is a bonus.
She is soon caught up in the apparent suicide of a local teenage boy after finding the body. The autopsy throws up some suspicious questions. Then a former pastor asks her to find a young man who has disappeared. At first, Janelle wonders if the boy just got tired of small town life & legged it for the big city but further digging reveals a connection with the dead teen.
Also digging is Sheriff Ken Heinz. He & Janelle have a long and complicated history. They used to be partners as cops in San Francisco. That was before they had an affair that cost Ken his marriage & before Janelle was shot, leaving her with a permanently mangled leg. They reconnected during her last case & the attraction is as strong as it ever was. Besides, he's one of the few who knows all about her little "problem".
The main thrust of the plot is the investigation into the two young men & it quickly becomes much more complex. Memories are long in small towns & old grudges soon come to light. Then a local doctor is killed & Janelle and those close to her are threatened. The methods of attack are devious & it's clear they're dealing with an intelligent & motivated killer.
As if that's not enough, Janelle has been getting some creepy texts. Someone is looking for her & seems to know about her sordid past. There was a time when she dealt with the years of abuse by engaging in anonymous & often violent sex. Her relationship with Ken is still fragile & she'd rather not let him in on all the details. But she may not have a choice.
It's a fast paced read & the author employs some subtle misdirection to keep you guessing as to the identity of the killer(s). There are several peripheral characters of note but the story belongs to Ken & Janelle.
These are two people with a lot on their plates. Janelle is wounded physically & emotionally & has the scars to prove it. Smart & stronger than she knows, she can't help feeling Ken would be better off without her pandora's box of issues. He disagrees. He hates what happened to her (and what she does to herself) but for him, it was never just an affair. Now that she's back in Greenville, he's determined to make her stay.
After the first book, I thought Janelle was one of the most original & interesting characters I'd come across in a long time. It's so refreshing to encounter a female protagonist who's not either a weeping damsel in distress or moonlights as a supermodel. Her back story as a victim of abuse & subsequent fight to have a real life adds depth to her character & you can't help rooting for her as she takes small steps toward some much deserved happiness.
This can be read as a stand alone as the author provides enough history for the story lines that carry over from book #1. But if this one catches your eye, I'd recommend beginning with "Clean Burn". It's a great read & you'll have the full 411 before starting this. I look forward to the next one. ( )

Karen Sandler’s Hangtown is the second gritty mystery novel to feature private investigator, Janelle Watkins, picking up about a year after the events that took place in Clean Burn.

Janelle is still in Greenville, California, living in a trailer on the property left to her by her father, but with every intention of heading back to San Francisco as soon as she can scrape together enough money. In the meantime she picks up whatever work comes her way, from surveillance gigs to insurance jobs and skip traces, argues with the County building service, and reluctantly keeps an eye on her on and off again lover’s teenage niece. It’s Cassie who discovers the body of nineteen year old Zach Stinson hanging from a bridge on the border of Janelle’s property. At first the police, including Sheriff Ken Heinz, assume Zach committed suicide but something about that scenario doesn’t seem right and when Janelle is asked to investigate the disappearance of a young man who knew the victim, instinct tells her her the two cases are connected.

Fast paced and action packed, Hangtown is a well crafted, complex mystery. As Janelle begins her search for the missing boy, and it becomes obvious that Zach was murdered, a local doctor is killed in a suspicious accident, a nurse is hit by a runaway vehicle and Janelle, who has been receiving a series of threatening text messages, is attacked by an unknown assailant. Janelle, with the help of Ken, has to figure out what connects these seemingly unrelated incidents before someone else dies.

Though still in near constant pain, as the result of an accidental firearm discharge by a rookie cop that all but destroyed her leg and forced her resignation from the police force, Janelle seems to have quieted some of her demons after the last case and has managed to curb some of her more self destructive tendencies. I was really glad to see this growth in her character which I think is rendered believably. One of Janelle’s past vices does haunt her in Hangtown however, and has the potential to drive a wedge between Janelle’s tentatively renewed relationship with Ken.

Hangtown isn’t as dark as Clean Burn but it does offer a more elaborate mystery. I found it to be both entertaining and exciting and read it almost straight through. Janelle in particular is an intriguing character and makes a terrific protagonist, I’m already looking forward to joining her for her next case.

Sadly I just learnt that the publisher of Hangtown, Exhibit A, shut its doors just days before the book’s publication date and it was not released. I hope that Karen Sandler is able to put it into the hands of a new publisher with all haste. ( )

I would recommend this book but something off about the self harm elements in the lead role of Karen Sandler's female PI... Modesty Blaise this ain't! ( )