I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
City of Secrets is the fourth installment of the Detective Margaret Nolan series, written by mother/daughter author duo P. J. and Traci Lambrecht under the pseudonym P. J. Tracy. Although it’s part of a series, it can be read as a standalone novel, as the primary plot is a police procedural mystery.
Bruce Messane, wealthy co-owner in a pet food company about to go public, is found dead in his luxury car in a dangerous area in LA. It looks like Bruce was up to some seedy business that went wrong, but as Detective Maggie Nolan and her partner, Al Crawford, investigate, the twists and surprises take them on some weirdly unexpected paths to the killer.
This is my second Detective Nolan novel, and I can now say I’m consistently happy that I can’t predict a dang thing while I’m reading Tracy’s books. City of Secrets has a wild variety of characters and course changes during the story. The plot is tightly woven and fast paced, but there’s enough room to get to know Maggie, Al, Remy, and the side characters well enough to care what happens to them as the tension escalates. I appreciate the threads of continuity from prior novels that show up as well, which help Maggie’s world feel fully fleshed out.
City of Secrets is a fast, fun read. I’m becoming a fan of Detective Nolan as a character, and I’m looking forward to more novels in her thriller series.
No Pithy Phrase 