Blood Money Murder (Shay O'Hanlon Capers 5) by Jessie Chandler at Bella Books
Genre | Lesbian / Contemporary / Law Enforcement / Romance / Mystery/Suspense/Thriller |
Reviewed by | A.L. Brooks on 26-October-2016 |
Genre | Lesbian / Contemporary / Law Enforcement / Romance / Mystery/Suspense/Thriller |
Reviewed by | A.L. Brooks on 26-October-2016 |
Secrets. It all begins with secrets. A long-held secret is about to implode with potentially catastrophic results.
It’s St. Paddy’s Day, and Shay O’Hanlon is finishing her shift at the Rabbit Hole, anticipating the grand reopening of her father’s bar, the Leprechaun. Two suspicious-looking strangers show up at the Hole demanding to speak to Eddy Quartermaine, the closest person Shay has to a mother. That visit sparks a firestorm spanning twenty-five years in a deadly mix of love gone wrong, stolen money, murder, and betrayal.
Will Shay and her sister Lisa pay the ultimate price for Eddy’s sins, or will Eddy confront her twenty-five year secret head-on before time runs out?
Shay O’Hanlon is back in her fifth caper, and it’s possibly the best yet. When two shifty men turn up at her café looking for Eddy, no one has any idea of what will then transpire and the secrets that will be revealed after twenty-five years in the shadows.
The first thing that had me doing a double-take with this caper is that it’s not written entirely in the first person point of view of Shay as all the other books were. It’s a brilliant change in style, but it definitely had me pausing for a moment to get my head round the idea that I was now going to be hearing the likes of JT and Eddy speaking directly to me, albeit from a third-person perspective. But the addition of this aspect from Chandler gives so much more depth to the book, I can only applaud her.
Shay and Lisa go missing shortly after the visit from the strange men, and it’s JT and Eddy who have to work together this time to rescue the half sisters. Oh yes, Lisa is Shay’s sister! The big spoiler I couldn’t reveal in my review of book four can now be openly discussed. Another awesome twist in the tale that adds yet more depth to this wonderful series. That Lisa and Shay are too alike to be comfortable leads to some hilarious interchanges that had me chuckling out loud. And those are a nice counterpoint to the very serious nature of Eddy’s secrets.
As usual with Chandler’s books, there are stories within stories. JT is working on a drugs case that has the potential to blow wide open a huge smuggling operation. While she’s frantically trying to find her girlfriend, and deal with what Eddy has to reveal to her about her past, she’s juggling her police work and avoiding her lieutenant. Seeing JT’s character come to the fore was great – she’s been such an important part of Shay’s story from the beginning that it was lovely to hear her side of their relationship. My heart ached for poor Eddy and all that she’d been carrying since Shay was a kid – again, as I’ve come to expect from Chandler, it was emotional without being schmaltzy or over-angsty, and it has more impact as a result.
Coop, Pete, Rocky, and Tulip all make an appearance but very much less so than in the earlier books, and I think that’s right – this one is really just about the four women and how much they all mean to each other. It’s another rollicking tale that I couldn’t put down, and Chandler delivers an absolutely perfect ending that had me cheering out loud. I don’t believe this is the last we’ll hear from Shay O’Hanlon, and I certainly hope not – what a great series.
DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Bella Books for the purpose of a review.
Format | ebook and print |
Length | Novel, 208 pages |
Heat Level | |
Publication Date | 16-June-2016 |
Price | $9.99 ebook, $16.95 paperback |
Buy Link | http://www.bellabooks.com/9781594935039e-prod.html |