STICKS AND STONES

Suspects abound when an unscrupulous blackmailer is found dead by a private eye and her histrionic assistant.

Caterina DeLuca’s Pants on Fire Detective Agency, meant to catch cheaters, is charged with an investigation that may be beyond its means when Cat’s assistant/partner (depending on who you ask) Cleo Jones is charged with murder. It all starts with Cleo’s cheating husband, Walter, who hasn’t bothered to wait for his divorce to take up with Cleo’s sister. When Cleo brings Cat along to do a bit of B & E at Walter’s place and rescue Cleo’s pooch Beau, the two find the last thing they expected: Walter home and stone-cold dead. Now Cleo is prime suspect and Cat is looking at accessory after the fact, a status not even her connections at the police department can wrangle her out of. Cat thinks her only way out is to identify who really killed Walter, but with the dead man’s unscrupulous ways, including adultery, blackmail and embezzlement at a minimum, it’s hard for Cat to imagine who wouldn’t want Walter dead. While Cat craves support from her FBI boyfriend Chance Savino, she’s seen more of her Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker lately than she has of Chance. As Cat investigates the murder of a man the world may be better for having lost, she debates whether finding the truth is as important as staying out of trouble. It’s only logical that Cat’s second case (Liar, Liar, 2010) is a bit disjointed, since the author is a nom de plume of three sisters. Tighter editing might return the series to its former glory.