*A Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for a honest and unbiased review*

Hello Fellow Readers,

There's just something about Siobhan, yes she has a very Irish name, yes she is a Korean-American adoptee and yes she's a 40 year old PI, but its more than that. I was not sure what to think going into this book, but I fell in love with Siobhan. Her inner ability to read a situation and act accordingly astounded me. It's hard to find a mystery heroine who actually acts logical in situations, plus her snarky humor, honestly was refreshing. The book is pretty humorous despite the very serious mystery that unfolds throughout the book, its pretty much why I read the book in one sitting.

The mystery itself was a little hard to grasp, what started out as a straight-forward missing persons case evolved into this huge scandal that was a little hard to keep up with. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of, some of which I barely remembered their names, I don't know how Siobhan kept up. There was also a lot of things to keep track of in terms of events and exposition, some of which I felt was unnecessary, all of which happened in what seemed like a couple of days. Another thing that was interesting was the fact that you pretty much know the who of the mystery but needed to know the how or why to have it finally settled.

I did enjoy the little snippets of romance that seemed to blossom in the book, while not needed it was a little refresher from the main plot in the book and I can't wait to see where it goes. The mystery didn't seemed to be as wrapped up as I would have liked, and I wanted to see more payback to the "bad guys" but I did like the way it ended setting up another case for Siobhan which made me think about where the series would go, which is a great thing. I can't wait for the next book so I can continue Siobhan's journey.

Overall, a pretty good mystery with a great character. ( )

*A Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for a honest and unbiased review*

Hello Fellow Readers,

There's just something about Siobhan, yes she has a very Irish name, yes she is a Korean-American adoptee and yes she's a 40 year old PI, but its more than that. I was not sure what to think going into this book, but I fell in love with Siobhan. Her inner ability to read a situation and act accordingly astounded me. It's hard to find a mystery heroine who actually acts logical in situations, plus her snarky humor, honestly was refreshing. The book is pretty humorous despite the very serious mystery that unfolds throughout the book, its pretty much why I read the book in one sitting.

The mystery itself was a little hard to grasp, what started out as a straight-forward missing persons case evolved into this huge scandal that was a little hard to keep up with. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of, some of which I barely remembered their names, I don't know how Siobhan kept up. There was also a lot of things to keep track of in terms of events and exposition, some of which I felt was unnecessary, all of which happened in what seemed like a couple of days. Another thing that was interesting was the fact that you pretty much know the who of the mystery but needed to know the how or why to have it finally settled.

I did enjoy the little snippets of romance that seemed to blossom in the book, while not needed it was a little refresher from the main plot in the book and I can't wait to see where it goes. The mystery didn't seemed to be as wrapped up as I would have liked, and I wanted to see more payback to the "bad guys" but I did like the way it ended setting up another case for Siobhan which made me think about where the series would go, which is a great thing. I can't wait for the next book so I can continue Siobhan's journey.

Overall, a pretty good mystery with a great character. ( )

Cozy Korean-Irish Caper
Review of the Agora Books paperback edition (July 2020)

I've been following the new imprint of Agora Books from independent publisher Polis Books since they began in 2019. Their mission statement of being "a diversity-focused imprint devoted to crime and noir fiction" showed promise of providing a variety of new authors with different takes on the genre. Sung Woo's Skin Deep is on more of a cozy track than the mostly-noir inflected previous releases from the publisher.

The twist here is that detective Siobhan (pronounced Sha-Vahn) O'Brien is a Korean-American adoptee to an Irish-American family. Her adoptive brother Sven is African-American. Although we don't meet the rest of the family in this first outing, there are likely sure to be future mix-ups and misunderstandings down the road with the detective's extended clan.

Skin Deep's investigation is a missing person search that takes our detective down paths of academia and health retreats. The case is resolved perhaps a bit too easily with a sort of deus ex machina intervention towards the end, but the likeability of the protagonist was the main attraction regardless. This promises to be an entertaining series to come. ( )