My Review (5 stars out of 5)
Private investigator Sal Kilkenny must manage childcare and domestic chores while checking up on an errant wife and snooping around a nursing home. When a man suspects his wife of playing away, he asks Sal to find out where she goes. Meanwhile, an elderly woman worried about her friend’s deterioration after moving to a nursing home, leads Sal to think the client might be wasting her money. But when a batch of tablets are found containing a higher dose than normal, she starts to dig a little deeper.
This is book 2 in the Sal Kilkenny Mystery series and as with the first one, it mixes domestic issues with more serious ones. Still struggling to make a living from her preferred profession, Sal is faced with a seemingly ordinary and unproductive follow-my-wife case. As the investigation takes an unexpected turn, Sal is shocked to find herself explaining her actions to the police. I love the northern humour of Ms Staincliffe’s writing and the way she peppers the very ordinary day-to-day life of her heroine with the, at times, more dangerous elements. The story isn’t quite as gripping as the first book, and though it takes a little while to get going, Ms Staincliffe cleverly racks up the tension as Sal and her client encounter a pair of determined villains.
There were a few formatting issues with the Kindle version, but otherwise this was a jolly romp that kept me guessing right to the end.
Colin Garrow 