Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline

I received this book from the Author as part of the First Reads promotion on the Goodreads website.

When I applied to read this book, I didn't realise that it was the second in the series of Peri Minneopa Mysteries but I have to say that my not having read the first volume didn't affect anything on reading this one. The writing style is very descriptive and although there may be more behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of having not read the first book, I didn't feel that I had missed much, if anything.

The information that lead me to choose to request this book was:

Private Investigator Peri Minneopa is hired to investigate a wealthy, possibly cheating wife, but the wife's girlfriends have other ideas. After all, a friend will help you move - a good friend will help you move a body.

That's quite a worm to bait a hook with really isn't it and I'm happy to say that the book didn't disappoint in any way. The story is well thought out and the characters are well written and mostly very likable.

The plot twists and turns around the day-to-day living of Peri and her long term boyfriend Skip. Skip is a Detective with the local police department, and the relationship is very serious for them both although they don't live together, they just stay over with each other whilst still maintaining their own space.

When Peri is approached to tail the trophy wife of a local business magnate it would appear like a normal routine case, but that's where the trouble begins. At first it could appear like some bad luck but when looked at deeper a conspiracy appears which steamrollers through Peri's life and that's not her only problem. She's not only trying to figure out who's trying to kill her but also if she's imagining one of Skip's colleagues has begun to take more than a little interest in him, some women just wont accept a man is taken unless he has a ring through his nose .... and even that doesn't stop all of them!

As we follow this roller coaster to it's conclusion we're introduced to many other people around the two main characters, all of which are well rounded characters who add their own bit to the story to make it a very enjoyable read. The story itself has a natural flow to it, it doesn't rush to the end like some books do, it takes it's time and builds up in layers until you can almost see the answer and when it's revealed it's as if you almost expected it but not quite so it was still a little surprising which is a great way to end a book.