Valerie Wilcox

I'll give this one 2 stars because the story was decent and there were unexpected twists and turns in it that made it interesting and held your attention. Otherwise, I would have given it only 1 star.

I'm really not sure why it's titled the way it is. The story really isn't about the concierge. Kate is part of it, but I didn't get the sense that she's the main character. The person I thought was the main character is Jack, a fired cop turned PI. That concept wasn't very original. That seems to be the cliche writers use when making ex-cops their characters.

There were also a few things that just didn't add up. I'll highlight the biggest one that stood out to me. SPOILER ALERT - the murder victim turns out to be Jack's child from a one-night stand that happened when he and Kate were separated. The story clearly states in the beginning that they had been "been together for over twenty years and it had been several years" since the divorce. The murder victim was a college student. That would mean the affair had happened early in their marriage. And when he's reminiscing about the meeting with Sally Ann (the woman he had the one-night stand with), she says, "You and your wife got back together by the time I found out that I was pregnant." However, when Jack is trying to explain this child he didn't know he had, he says, "I met Sally Ann when we were separated. You know, that period prior to our divorce.” Kate has an accountant she went to college with (before she met Jack) who's in his mid-40s. That would mean Kate and Jack are in that age range as well. Do you see how none of this is making sense?

Another thing that really bothered me was that the murder victim's real name was Marija, yet throughout the book her name is spelled Mariji as well. It seems to me to be a pretty basic and fundamental thing to get your character's name spelling correct and consistent throughout a book. Finally, there are an enormous number of punctuation errors in the book, most having to do with quotation marks. I was appalled when I read the author bio at the end and it says she has a master's degree in education and is a former educator. Yet she can't correctly punctuate quotations? I hope she didn't teach English.… (meer)

Another Giveaway from published by Black Rose Books. But, this time, I think Goodreads did the giveaway.

This is a charming, standard mystery. Unfortuneatly, the characters are a bit cliche. The PI is a fired detective who happens to be an alcoholic and Irish to boot who is still not over his ex wife. The Ex wife is thrown into the murder case to "support him" because darn it although he is a totally # up, he is not a murderer. And darn it, she does NOT still love him! There is even a corrupt cop.

Do cops REALLY accuse someone of murder before even viewing evidence? That aspect of the plot was messy.

Despite, the screaming cliches, the story works. The banter is real. The characters are engaging. The plot flows.

This was actually the 2nd in the series. But there is enough hints about the previous case, it did not matter. I will look forward to more of the series.

I hope these 2 Do Not get back together.That would be an additional cliche.… (meer)