Sometimes hard to keep all characters straight. Engaging story. ( )

Another solid effort. ( )

Roxane Weary is hired by Arthur Ungless, owner of a print shop, to track his fiance, Marin, whom he believes is cheating on him. But her case devolves quickly, between a bounced check and Tom (Roxane's dad's former partner) and a rude cop named Sanko showing up on Roxane's doorstep with the news that Marin is dead. Not only that, they make it pretty clear that they want Roxane to stay out of it. But this is "pathologically nosy" Roxane we are talking about. Stay out of it she cannot. So Roxane continues to work Arthur's case--as the husband, he's the main suspect after all. Roxane is determined he's innocent: a perspective not shared by Tom and Sanko. As she digs deeper into Marin's life, she discovers that she led quite the double life, and Roxane finds herself lost in a world of antiques dealing, wealthy families, and a lot of danger.

I loved this book. I love the first person aspect. The Roxane Weary series is straight-up great mystery writing. No unreliable narrator, no chapters that alternate POV or time periods, no gimmicks--just an excellent protagonist and a strong plot. It makes you long for mysteries of old (think Kinsey Millhone). The ways I love Roxane cannot truly be enumerated--she's a female lead in a mystery series, for one. She's smart, witty, and sarcastic. She's bisexual, but this characteristic is just who she is, not her main defining element or the entire defining point of the novel. As a bisexual female, I cannot stress how amazing this is in literature. To have bisexual representation (and have that representation be intelligent, funny, and not portrayed as evil and deviant), well, it's wonderful. She has relationships of all kinds and works on figuring out herself, just like any other person. Gasp! Imagine that. I couldn't love Roxane more (or [a:Kristen Lepionka|15613182|Kristen Lepionka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480818152p2/15613182.jpg] for creating this character). Also, Roxane calls waffles "golden beauty" and well, what more do you need in your PI? She's the Leslie Knope of private investigators.

I was worried that the second Roxane Weary novel wouldn't stand up to the first, but I was anxious for no reason. The second book is just as wonderful and intricately crafted as the first, and we get to see Roxane both struggling and growing professionally and personally. The case is a great one--it had me frantically reading and totally shocked me at the end, which I love. So rarely can a detective novel keep me guessing to the anymore. Marin Strasser is quite the character, and her web of lies pulls in a whole host of supporting characters.

We also see Roxane navigating new territory with Tom, her former lover (and, as mentioned, her dad's ex-partner), and get appearances again from the appealing Weary brothers and Roxane's mom. Roxane is still working on her relationships--not just romantic ones, but life ones, and you'll be touched as she figures out trying to be a "surrogate aunt" to Shelby, who appeared in book one. Watching her let her guard down at times is enjoyable.

The case is still mainly the star, though, and it won't disappoint. It's complicated and intriguing and everything comes together in ways that will make you gasp and keep you riveted. I was definitely shocked several times while reading. Not to mention I love it when an author can write a character that I truly hate--you know they've done a good job when you can feel that anger viscerally through the pages!

Overall, I have nothing bad to say about this book. Maybe that it's over, and I have to wait now for a (hopeful!!) book three? I love Roxane. I feel kinship toward her for sure, this sarcastic, bisexual PI whose still navigating the world around her. The mystery in this book won't disappoint, nor will the characters. If you haven't read the first Roxane Weary novel, I do recommend reading it first (mostly because it's also so good - my review here ), but this will stand on its own. Highly recommend - 4.5 stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you); it is available everywhere as 05/01/2018.

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Reposted from Reviewing the Evidence with permission.

Kristen Lepionka burst out of the gate in 2017 with THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK, the start of a PI series that combined homage to the genre's traditions with a fresh, complicated protagonist. The second in the Roxane Weary series continues to pay its debt to the genre with a plot that's less showy than her first but as intricately plotted as something Ross Macdonald might have come up with; in fact, a couple of minor characters could move right into one of his novels and feel at home. Best of all, Roxane continues to be a character you want to spend time with – prickly, vulnerable, and intelligent, though not always smart about her own well-being.

It starts out as a simple job. Arthur Ungless suspects his fiancee Marin is seeing someone else. That wouldn't be entirely surprising. She's relatively young and strikingly attractive compared to the aging print shop owner. Roxane follows her for a few days, seeing nothing suspicious. Not until her client's check bounces - and the police want to talk to her. Someone has murdered Marin. With Arthur Ungless's gun. The one he swears he lost years ago.

The police still think it's simple. The couple were seen arguing in a restaurant shortly before the murder. Arthur had just confronted Marin with the reason his check bounced – she'd drained his bank account. But there's something about sad-sack Arthur and the elusive woman he loved that makes Roxane agree to look into it. Marin, she soon learns, had a lot of secrets, though not enough to explain a series of events that include one of the print shop employees vanishing abruptly, the murder of another employee's sister, and the vaguely menacing biblical ravings of a schizophrenic aunt of one of Marin's ex-husbands. Roxane uncovers plenty of clues as she untangles the branches of several family trees, just no idea how they fit together.

She also has a personal life that's nearly as complicated, including a fraught relationship with her difficult father, killed in the line of duty. It's a tribute to Lepionka's skill as a writer that she can handle such a large cast of characters, a plot with many moving parts, and a protagonist with baggage in what, in this era of door-stoppers, is a compact mystery. Perhaps that's another homage to the past. Perhaps its simply good writing.

Second in the Roxane Weary series, the first of which I have not had the pleasure of reading, I was curious at to how 'lost' I might feel in the current plot....how much pulling from the past. The book stands solidly on its own, explaining just enough of the previous plot-line to make sense of the history behind relationships without giving too much away. Roxane, a private detective, is struggling with a drinking habit, sorting out recent past relationships with Charlotte and Tom, a complicated family, and her police officer father's recent murder. And this doesn't even come close to what she has to face when she is hired by Arthur Ungless, small print shop owner, to determine if his fiance, Marin Strasser, is cheating on him. Pretty routine in her line of work, until Arthur's retainer check bounces, his fiance is murdered and the real mysteries begin. What follows requires the patience of a saint and the tenacity of a bulldog as Arthur, the strongest suspect in Marin's death, continues to deny involvement and Marin's shady past is revealed. Connections to a mafia-like family, elaborately planned estate takeovers, forgery and murder piles up around Roxane who continues to wade through to the truth. A very pleasant surprise is the ease with which Roxane's sexuality is included and accepted by other characters....just where we should be in the 21st century! ( )