Secondhand Smoke

Second in the Annie Seymour, reporter in New Haven, CT series. When a restaurant in Annie’s neighborhood burns down with a body inside, everyone assumes it was the owner, Sal, since he is missing. But when it turns out to be his bookkeeper and assistant, LeAnn—AND she’s got a bullet wound in her skull, the chase is on. Of course Annie's ex-boyfriend Tom, a police detective is on the case. And Sal’s wife hires PI Vinnie DeLucia (Annie's wanna-be boyfriend--who's engaged to someone else) to find him and of course Annie herself is nosing around trying to find the real story for the newspaper. Then her father, a casino owner, shows up out of the blue from Las Vegas. Why? Annie is aware of possible ‘mob’ connections (it is an show more Italian neighborhood, after all) but can’t quite believe that her father is in the midst of something like that. Another mystery—and one that Annie isn’t sure she wants to know the answers to. And what is with all the references to the chickens? “Are the chickens dead, too?” a seemingly crazy man asks Annie the night of the fire. Huh? (The last book had cows, this one has chickens—if the next one has pigs, I’m going to start singing “ei-ei-o!” LOL) This book was as enjoyable as the first book in the series with a bad guy that I didn’t figure out until the last minute, though the clues were there had I chosen to assimilate them. There is a bit of romance/sexual tension but it's done well and not sappy or over-the-top, nor does it dominate the book, thank heavens. Really looking forward to the next one in this series and found this a GREAT way to open up the 2008 mystery season! show less

I love Annie Seymour! She is a newspaper reporter who is great at her job, but has a pile of dirty clothes and an empty refrigerator at home. She is fearless when hunting down the facts of a story, but afraid to commit in a relationship. I found her very likable (even when she is being unlikable) and totally relatable. I am looking forward to the next book.

Great story, love Karen's books!

My blog post about this book is at this link.