Luke Murphy

*the author provided me with a copy of the book for review purposes.*

Luke Murphy’s novel Kiss & Tell is perfect for fans of Harlen Coben and Jonathan Kellerman. I really enjoyed the main character, Charlene. She’s a bit of a mess, a feisty rookie cop coping with personal demons and dealing with a bit of an alcohol problem AND the recent murder of her father. Her tough cop persona is balanced with a more gentle side seen when she is working with victims and possible witnesses. Charlene is flawed and believable.

There is a lot going on in this fast-paced story as Charlene juggles two cases – a high-profile murder and her own father’s murder. Her father’s death becomes more complicated when she discovers that it was tied to a serial killer – a killer that seems to know more about her than she does about him. This story has plenty of twists and turns, and the pace is fast. The murder scenes are plenty grisly, the police procedural aspect is sharp, plenty of suspense provided from the serial killer angle, and there is a human aspect as we see Charlene’s personal struggles (and sometimes poor choices.)

Murphy does an excellent job with character development – and there are a lot of them. Early on, it almost felt like too many to keep up with as there were so many potential suspects for the high-profile death, but the twists were enough to keep me hanging in there. At one point, one storyline was so gripping that I nearly forgot she still had another mystery to solve!

The cover reads that Kiss & Tell is A Charlene Taylor Mystery, so I hope there are more books coming as I’m looking forward to more of Charlene!… (mais)