A May Day treat for readers:
Kristen Lepionka burst on the scene last year with The Last Place You Look, which introduced PI Roxane Weary. She returns with What You Want To See, a sequel that has Lee Child noting: “That rare and precious thing–a sequel as good as–or even better than–the outstanding first in the series. It’s wise, knowing, propulsive, and perfectly pitched. Lepionka is a major new talent.”

High praise indeed, and most apt, for this sequel is every bit as complex and telling as the Lepionka’s first PI thriller.

Roxane has been hired by Arthur Ungless to trail his fiance`, Marin Strasser. He’s worried she’s having an affair instead of planning their upcoming wedding.

The reality is that Marin is not having an affair, but she’s not planning their wedding, either. What she is–is dead. Shot in an apparent mugging, Arthur is soon the prime suspect, but Roxie is convinced he was really in love with Marin and would never have killed her.

This theory is at odds with a detective on the case, Sanko, who shows up to question Roxie, accompanied by Roxie’s detective friend, Tom, her father’s detective protogee`. Roxie and Tom have a complicated relationship–but then there’s also her complicated relationship with the lovely Catherine.

None of this deters Roxie from investigation Marin, where she finds the pretty woman has more than a shady past, including her own criminal record and a son just out of prison. Roxie soon uncovers an accident to an elderly woman, and cases of real estate scams and fraud.

Then Arthur and a young woman are gunned down outside his office, and the complications rise as the secrets start to unravel. With Arthur struggling to survive and a young woman dead, everyone who knows any of the players is in jeopardy, even Roxie’s mother and Catherine.

One of the highlights of this series is the modern, bisexual Roxie, who tells the story from her point of view. This adds to the reality of the story as readers come to know Roxie, her insecurities and troubles, as well as her motivations. When you add in a nicely twisted plot, you have the recipe for a killer read.

It makes for a refreshing style of hardboiled PI fiction, a series that made Laura Lippman say ” . . . reminds me of everything that made my fall in love with PI fiction.”

Highly recommended.