Past and present clash on the Texas Gulf Coast in this excellent debut mystery by Laura Oles

Daughters of Bad Men is a fantastic debut for the Jamie Rush Mystery series by author Laura Oles. The main character, Jamie Rush, is a likable and capable yet vulnerable young woman who, despite her unfortunate childhood, has broken away from her family’s shady way of life and landed on her own two feet with a pretty positive outlook. She’s one smart cookie, able to read people, and has a witty personality. She and her partner have a delightful friendship and excellent working relationship that I really enjoyed. Their friend, Erin Clay, is a woman of contrasts. Although looking like a member of the Junior League, she’s building a successful bookie operation among the locals and the Winter Texans and doing so away from the influence of her father, a well-known, if not notorious, bookie in Las Vegas.

The author makes the coastal setting of Port Alene come alive. The descriptions are vivid and familiar, and I enjoyed trying to decide if the locations were actual ones, but disguised, or entirely fictional. I could easily visualize where the action was taking place, and I wanted to make a trip to Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, or Rockport quick, fast, and in a hurry.

The plot is smart and complex and held my attention from page one. I got the distinct impression that there is so much more happening below the surface of life in Port Alene than what is visible and that our characters are just getting started with their involvement in the business of the various crime families and criminal organizations. That feeling gave the book an extra undercurrent of menace and danger lurking nightside there. I hope there are many more mysteries to come in this series.

With its likable and engaging characters, sultry, salt-sprayed setting, and the emotion-tugging puzzle of a murder, I recommend DAUGHTERS OF BAD MEN to mystery fiction readers, especially those who like strong female protagonists, dog-and-cat partnerships, and a tempting setting on the Texas Gulf Coast. ( )

In Daughters Of Bad Men, the first book in the Jamie Rush Mystery Series, author Laura Oles transports the reader to the island coastal town of Port Alene, Texas, for an intriguing mystery that will keep the reader guessing and turning the pages.

Jamie Rush comes from a family of con artists, she's left that life behind and is in business as a private investgator with her best friend and partner Cookie Hinojosa. Jamie and Cookie investigation business usually involves skip tracing, divorce, and surveillance cases.

Jamie gets a call from her estranged older half-brother Brian asking her to help locate his missing daughter Kristen. At first Jamie thinks that Kristen may have just gone off-grid and turned down the case, but when Brian insists that something is definitely wrong, Jamie and Cookie agree to take the case and begin searching for Kristen. As Jamie and Cookie search for the truth behind Kristen's disappearance, the further they dig, the more they realize that Kristen has gotten into some pretty dangerous stuff, and someone is determined to stop them at all costs. Can Jamie and Cookie put the pieces of the puzzle together and solve the disappearance of Kristen?

Author Laura Olves weaves a slow-building and suspenseful tale written in the third person narrative that follows Jamie and Cookie's investigative journey in search of the truth behind the disappearance of Jamie's niece. Their investigation will take a lot of digging and dangerous situations to find the truth. And if that's not enough, Jamie has to come to terms with her ongoing family issues, especially when it comes to dealing with who is behind Kristen's disappearance.

The reader will be easily drawn into this intriguing story with its richly descriptive plot and idyllic coastal town setting. Daughters Of Bad Men has intriguing characters, and enough drama, tension, action, flashbacks, secrets, clues from the past, and unexpected twists and turns that kept me thoroughly engaged and guessing what would happen next, it will definitely take the reader on one heck of a thrilling roller coaster ride.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/08/daughters-of-bad-men-by-laura... ( )

This latest iteration of Kinsey Millhone just didn't work for me.

I liked this book. Jamie displays strength and intelligence. This really is a fast read. There was plenty of action to keep the storyline moving along at a good pace. The only thing is that as much as I did enjoy this book and the lead character, I had a bit of trouble connecting with the rest of the characters within the story. Therefore, it does not matter how good a storyline is if the characters doing grab you and connect with you. Yet, from what I read and liked about this book; makes me want to read more by this author. I feel like with the right elements I could really come to enjoy this author a lot. You could say that this book tickled me fancy. Daughters of Bad Men is worth a look and read. ( )

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Jamie and Cookie run a PI agency (although goodness knows how they make any money, given their willingness to take a week off to work for free) and use their skills when Jamie's estranged half-brother Brian asks her to find his daughter Kristin. Brian is a con man and he cut off contact with Jamie when she tried to persuade Kristin to leave her father and go straight.

Things I liked about this novel:

- the title is excellent;
- the plot makes sense and is easy to follow.

Things I liked less:

- there is a fair amount of repetition and many places where a paragraph really hammers home a point which could just as easily have been expressed in a single sentence;
- poor Deuce (of whom we heard far too much) surely leads the unhealthiest lifestyle of any dog ever (and I also wish Jamie or Cookie would eat a vegetable or a piece of fruit occasionally);
- I don't know anything about Texan gambling laws, but why is Erin running an illegal bookie operation? Can't she just register and do it legally? Probably my personal prejudices showing through, but I don't see enabling elderly people in a retirement home to gamble on a weekly basis is quite such a saintly act of service as it is portrayed as being here;
- I wouldn't have read this if I had known it was one of those books where a mob/crime family make everything right and the hero/heroine is very grateful to them because it was the only way... ( )