Note: While this is Book 2 in the series, it works fine as a stand alone novel.

Doubleback is even better than Book 1 (Easy Innocence). The plot is tighter, the characters have more depth (for the most part), and the stakes are higher. Georgia Davis reluctantly teams up with her friend Ellie (an independent film maker) who is also reluctant to get involved in a kidnapping case. Still, these two ladies offer up their best advice to Chris, head of the IT department at a large bank, whose daughter has been kidnapped.

From the beginning, this kidnapping case isn’t typical – there’s no ransom demand for one thing. Still, the kid is eventually released safely back to her mom. But then some unexpected deaths have Georgia taking another look at it. What a deliciously tangled web of intrigue! The plot takes us to the desert southwest and even across the border into Mexico. Ellie continues to work her own case but as the two friends compare notes, they start to realize there’s connections between the kidnapping and the clean energy company Ellie is looking into.

This mystery was nearly perfect. I did have one laugh at the plot and that is the out of character sexytimes for Georgia. She’s been hunting a man who has answers and once found, not even a day passes before they tumble into bed together. Georgia has been so guarded, not looking for a relationship at all. Plus she wasn’t sure if this guy would ultimately kill her or perhaps turn her over to the bad guys, yet hey, there’s a storm and we’re stuck in this cabin with no TV. So, yeah, that was silly. The sex scene itself was OK, a little sexy, straight, to the point, brief. Personally, if you’re going to toss in a completely out of character sex scene, might as well make it epic.

Anyhoo, I can see Ellie and Georgia teaming up again. In fact, there’s some hints as to their past friendship and perhaps they did once upon a time tackle mysteries together. Georgia certainly has developed in this book, including renewing some old ties with the police department. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book. 4.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Eva Kaminsky has a great voice for Georgia. She sounds experienced and tough when she needs to be. I did have a little trouble discerning the difference between her voices for Ellie and Georgia when they were in the same conversation. I did confuse a few things because I wasn’t sure who was talking when. For the most part, she had a decent Spanish accent, though she mispronounced Gila monster. While Georgia might well get it wrong, her Hispanic companion would not. The pacing was better than Book 1 but still a little slow for my tastes. There were no technical issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Libby Fischer Hellmann. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. ( )

The Red Herring Press, May 2016 (original publication 2009)

Videographer Elly Forman is asked by her friend Susan to help a neighbor, Chris Messenger, whose daughter has been kidnapped. Elly, knowing she doesn't have the knowledge and experience to help, calls in P.I. Georgia Davis.

And Georgia says what Elly first said: Even though they told you not to call the police, call the police. Having persuaded Chris Messenger to turn to the police, she walks away from the case.

A few days later, Molly Messenger is returned, and the police are strangely silent about how they cracked this big case so quickly. When the next thing Georgia hears about it is a panicked call for help from Chris because another executive at the bank where she's a VP has died in a car she's convinced is murder, Georgia knows there's something much stranger going on.

Georgia and Elly, separately and together, get drawn in to figuring out what that is.

Chris apparently embezzled money to cover the ransom demand for Molly before Molly was ever kidnapped, which makes no sense. As they continue to dig to find out what really happened, they discover that some very, very dangerous people are involved--and Georgia finds herself in Arizona, talking to rightwing militia as well as people smuggling undocumented workers.

Oh, and dodging bullets.

It's intricate and fast-paced, and a great beach read.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Mysterious deaths and a kidnapping highlight this easy reading mystery ( )

Doubleback unites two of Hellmann's ongoing characters. Ellie Foreman is a video producer and Georgia Davis is a P.I. These are intriguing characters and Hellmann's writing style is easy to get into and enjoyable.

That being said, for me, this book sacrificed character development for a complicated, entangled plot. The characters didn't have quite the same spark in this story and I'm not sure I would have liked them as much had I not read Hellmann's previous books. While I found the various aspects of the plot excellent, I thought there was too much crammed into one story, making it a bit hectic and confusing.

Still, overall this is a good read. ( )

12 days and 7 books into the new year and I've discovered my 1st new favorite/auto-buy author. :-). The Georgia Davis mysteries are more complex than initially meets the eye and lead the reader to unexpected places. I was hooked from the first page to the last.