"A Deadly Business" by Lis Wiehl ~ Book Review

Publisher's Description:  

If the hours don't kill you, the accused just might.

 Mia Quinn is a Seattle prosecutor working on high profile cases in the Violent Crimes unit while juggling the impossible demands of single parenthood. Her husband, Scott, was killed in a car crash that homicide detective Charlie Carlson now believes was no accident. Charlie's instincts and professional record make it impossible for Mia to refute the evidence she'd rather not believe.

 When the powers that be refuse to reopen the case, it's up to Mia and Charlie to investigate, all the while trying to deny a growing attraction between them. Was her accountant husband really in league with nefarious criminals? And who is the young woman whose photo they find on his computer? Uncovering the truth may hurt Mia in more ways than one.

My Thoughts:

 I like a mystery once in awhile so when this book came up for review I ordered it in spite of the fact that it is actually the 2nd in a series, the first of which I hadn't read. But I thought I'd give it a go because I really enjoyed the last book I read from this author.   As described above Mia Quinn is a Seattle prosecutor who is was widowed seven months before and is doing her best trying to raise a teen and a younger child on her own while still dealing with grief.  Her work takes a lot of time and on top of just being attacked in court by a defendant she was handed a very tough assignment of deciding whether a couple of teens should be prosecuted as adults or juvenilles in a very polarizing violent crime.  So when her friend, a detective, comes to tell her he thinks that the accident that took her husband isn't an accident Mia feels totally overwhelmed.  But as they start to look into it, questions start to arise as to what her husband was really up to in the last months of his life.  Things become more complex and dangerous the more they dig and Mia is not sure she wants to know the truth.

The story hit the floor running and didn't stop until the end.  Lots of fast paced action made it a page turner.  The main characters were very likable and I didn't feel like I was lost from not having read the first book of the series.  I felt for Mia in her struggles with juggling a very demanding job, being there for her children and helping them deal with their new normal without their dad while also still dealing with her own grief.  But when clues start to point towards the possibility of her husband not being the person she believed before he died, and Mia wrestling with the knowledge that she had suspicions but didn't confront him when he was still alive, the reading got a bit emotionally difficult for me.  It was hard getting through that.  But when things really started coming to head, it was a book that was hard to put down.

The secondary story of the teens being charged with a violent crime was at times heart wrenching and I liked how the author explored the consequences and politics of what would happen if these teens were charged either way and what factors might have contributed to the decisions they made.   It made an interesting part of the story that made me think on a topic that I don't normally come to face.

If you're looking for a heavy Christian element from the story, it isn't there but for a murder mystery I found it a good, tense page turner.

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.  All thoughts expressed are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.

"A Deadly Business" is available for purchase here.