annieb123's Review of The Blue Kingfisher (Kat Stone)

by Erica Wright

What happens when a master of disguise tries to be herself for once? If you’re private investigator Kat Stone, trouble seems to find you with or without your favorite wig.

Kat knows she’s living on borrowed time, waiting for her violent past to catch up with her. Still, she doesn’t expect men to start falling from the sky. On a desolate morning in Fort Washington Park, Kat discovers the body of her building’s French expat maintenance man atop the Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse. The NYPD is quick to dismiss his death as suicide, another lost soul leaping from the bridge overhead. Kat is less than convinced, especially when she learns about his dangerous side hustle, finding jobs for immigrant members of their community.

Her investigation turns up unexpected connections to Manhattan’s tony art world, not to mention a host of dark superstitions. When she goes undercover with a deep-sea fishing company, she gets a little too cozy with a colorful cast of characters and a couple of jellyfish. Will she find his killer before her past drags her under? From one of the most acclaimed new mystery writers working today comes a riveting novel of suspense that will have you guessing until the last page is turned.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Blue Kingfisher is the 3rd book in the Kat Stone P.I. series by Erica Wright. Released 23th Oct 2018 by Polis books, it's 320 pages and available in hardback and ebook formats.

This is the third book in an established series with returning characters and a such, it doesn't work as well as a standalone book would. There's enough back-story included that I didn't feel lost, but neither did I engage with the characters as well as I would have if I'd read from the first book. I don't really recommend jumping in in the middle.

With that caveat, however, this is a well written and engaging book. I absolutely loved Kat's friend Dolly and their mutual friend (and wigmaker) Vondya. Kat's partner and protege in the P.I. business, Meeza, is very odd and I wonder about the overarching storyline development between them in future books. Kat is described as very intelligent, with lots of street wisdom, but I often felt that she was bumbling from episode to episode. There are also a number of unresolved threads noticeably dangling at the end of the book. Not enough to really be annoying, but there.

The language is fairly rough and there are some graphically violent episodes. There is also a creepy scene with threatened sexual assault.

All in all a good, well written, readable P.I. thriller set in modern day New York. I did enjoy it and will give the earlier books a read-through before I make a decision whether to continue with the series.

Three and a half stars.

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

The Blue Kingfisher (Kat Stone)

by Erica Wright

Reviewed by annieb123 on Mar 5, 2019

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