A Perilous Pal (A Friend for Hire Mystery, #2)

by Laura Bradford

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake’s new business is booming until her latest client is arrested for murder in this new Friend for Hire Mystery by USA Today bestselling author Laura Bradford.




Emma Westlake, proprietor of A Friend for Hire, finds a heart-wrenching email from a prospective client in her inbox. The email is from Kim Felder, a woman struggling with empty-nest syndrome and an out of left field divorce. Determined to help get Kim in a better headspace, Emma suggests she draft a bucket list of things she has always wanted to do in life but has put off in favor of taking care of everyone else.  
 
Together, they fill that list with fun baking classes, traveling, and dancing in the middle of the street for no reason. Kim also adds in some hilarious items about getting even with her ex. But all laughter ends when Kim’s ex winds up dead via one of the ideas Kim proposed. Now, Kim is Deputy Jack Riordan’s lone suspect in a murder Emma knows she did not commit. Emma will have to put her budding relationship with the deputy on the line to corner a cunning killer.
 

• ISBN10: 0593334787
• ISBN13: 9780593334782
• Publish Date: 5 July 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593334782

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

A Perilous Pal is the second Friend For Hire cozy mystery by Laura Bradford. Released 5th July 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley Prime Crime imprint, it's 288 pages and is available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. Library binding available in third quarter 2022. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

Protagonist Kim is a friend for hire and will, for a fee, attend whatever function/wedding/concert/or event her clients need. When her new client's ex-husband winds up dead and the evidence points directly back at client Kim, Emma channels her inner amateur sleuth yet again.

The characterizations are well done and believable. I enjoyed the bantering dialogue which is never overwrought or clunky. The pacing is maybe a trifle slow in places, but the author has an above average facility with description and the mystery and resolution are well controlled and satisfying. The clues are well presented and the entire "whodunit" is fair play and cleverly constructed.

The language is squeaky clean and the violence occurs off-scene. Four and a half stars. This is definitely one for fans of modern cozies with cute dogs and plucky female protagonists.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.