THE ASTONISHING MISTAKES OF DAHLIA MOSS

A decidedly twitchy personality finds herself investigating the geek-gamer world of a video game tournament, with only her roommate’s boyfriend and some highly questionable followers to give her support.

Dahlia Moss is pretty sure the $500 tip she received via her Twitch feed isn’t just a gesture of appreciation for her internet monologue. That's the kind of cash someone gives when they want something in return. So when the donor, whose screen name is Doctor XXX, asks to meet her in a private chat room, Dahlia is the opposite of surprised. Doctor XXX wants Dahlia to come to a tournament celebrating Dark Alleys, which he claims could benefit from some oversight by a budding investigator like Dahlia. In spite of her adventures in her last case (The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, 2015), including taking a bullet, Dahlia resolves to fulfill this installment’s title by agreeing to meet this internet stranger at the video game contest. Though she wishes she could bring her roommate, Charice, a manic pixie she thinks would be a perfect dream girl for the video game world, she’s instead saddled with a wholly inadequate substitute: Daniel Simone, Charice’s man of the month. Daniel’s mainly interested in practicing his Australian accent for auditions, but Charice seems determined to foster a friendship between Daniel and Dahlia. Does that mean Daniel might last longer than the month? On arriving at the tournament, Dahlia and Daniel find that the man behind the meetup may have been murdered. The two search the tournament’s wacky range of geeky gamer-testants for answers and the identity of the mysterious Doctor XXX, all the time wondering if the $20,000 in prize money is enough to motivate a killer.

Endorsed by Charlaine Harris, another author in love with her feisty female lead, Wirestone’s franchise will appeal to those willing to fall for his heroine as hard as he has.