SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN

Two Black private investigators have to go on the run when a missing person case turns deadly.

Mackenzie Cunningham and Jackson Jones run their own PI agencies in Los Angeles but keep bumping into each other after they’re hired separately to find a missing woman. When the search leads to break-ins, violent encounters with corrupt cops, and unexpected twists involving blackmail and a conservative presidential-wannabe politician, the two team up to find the truth and avoid being killed themselves. Though Mackenzie is from an elite family and went to Princeton and Jackson is an ex-cop who was raised by a working-class single mother, both are quick thinkers who share a drive to succeed in their chosen profession. Chapters told from their alternate points of view show each protagonist’s problem-solving skills and immediate attraction to the other and sketch out how their upbringings affect their adult personalities. Jackson’s ideas about how a man should show or conceal his romantic interest appear rooted in gender stereotypes, as does the portrayal of Mackenzie’s icy lawyer mom. But Jackson’s role as a good father to a young daughter gives him more depth, while Mackenzie’s fears about her mother’s potential breast cancer diagnosis add a layer to her portrait and also highlight the high rates of some cancers in Black women. The mystery itself is light on complications and won’t tax anyone’s whodunit skills. While the plot is largely composed of action-oriented scenes as Mackenzie and Jackson drive around L.A. in pursuit of suspects or to escape pursuit themselves, co-authors Young and Smith throw in episodes where the couple banter and occasionally make out.

For readers who like their detective stories with a “will they or won’t they” romantic dynamic.