Eddie Shoes’ latest client is the worst. She lies. She cheats. And now, just after the body of her husband’s mistress is found, she’s gone missing. Eddie has to go find her…it’s the only way she’s going to get paid.
Bottom line: One Dead, Two To Go is for you if you like comedic PI mysteries where good sleuthing goes toe to toe with bad luck.
Listen to the first chapter here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For podcast
Strengths of the story. The storytelling style is the first thing I noticed. It’s fun, free, and fast-paced. Written in the same vein as Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, Hartwell’s Eddie Shoes is serious about her work. She has to be to manage the chaos around her.
Eddie Shoes, born Edwina Zapata Shultz, is the daughter of card shark and a mafioso. She’s a woman who uses her brains to make a living as a PI. She isn’t a fighter but she is tenacious and willing to go where good sense doesn’t tread. She was well developed and an easy character to cheer for.
Eddie’s mother drops in for an uninvited extended visit and decides to help out. Chava is different from most mother characters. She was 16 when Eddie was born, so this mama is only in her mid-forties. She is a slight of hand pro in addition to card player and has the same tenacity as her daughter. Chava becomes Eddie’s ad hoc assistant, bringing her own skills and connections to the case.
The story has a murder but the plot is focused on the disappearance of Eddie’s client, Kendra Hallings. Between a cheating husband and a mystery man, it seems all but certain that Kendra was kidnapped. Before Eddie can put the pieces together…she has to find them. Kendra’s life isn’t what she painted it to be. Her husband isn’t what she thought he was. And then there’s that mystery man again.
Where the story fell short of ideal: With comedic style stories, it’s often hard to check all the boxes, but this one does. The bones of the kidnapping mystery are strong with the actions of the parties being consistent with their motivations. I thought about the end for several days after reading it, following each thread to see if they stood up, and they do.
Eddie drives her part of the plot and, in doing so, forces the bad guys to act. She could have stopped looking for Kendra, and the story would have ended. Eddie, with the help of Chava, pushed this story to a satisfying end.
About Elena Hartwell. Elena Hartwell spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. In addition to writing the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, she writes the Sheriff Bet Rivers mysteries under the name Elena Taylor. She is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts. Elena’s favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. Find her at www.elenahartwell.com
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TG Wolff 