A Well Constructed Murder, by Reagan Davis

 
"Everyone has secrets. Some people just hide them better than others."

Great read! As a long-time fan of Davis' Knitorious series, I have to admit to going into this new series with some trepidation. What if I didn't like it? What if..... Oh, never mind. It didn't matter. I loved it. Given Davis' deft touch with words, that was surely predictable but nothing in the mystery was.

On the surface, the plot seems simple. Who killed contractor Fitz? Is the location a connection? But, whoa! Death by nail gun? Even more bizarre, the victim was "nailed" from both the back and front. It doesn't take any deductive skills for Karla to know there was no way the victim committed suicide. There is not only any way he could have shot himself, then carefully placed the alleged suicide note neatly atop his stomach, not to mention wiped both the nail gun and pencil used for the note clean of fingerprints. Yep, murder.

From there, the story moves along smoothly and quickly. We're introduced to the new series' characters of this small Canadian town as well as made aware that there seem to be plenty of secrets in town. Although my first question was who is driving that red pickup Karla is so diligently avoiding, that puzzle was immediately shoved aside as we meet her family, friends, and pets. I found myself loving all the characters, even mother Lynn who Karla seems to have issues with, as I sorted out who everyone was and their relationships. Given her budding amateur sleuth efforts, Karla is lucky in that both her father and half-sister are police while her best friend since kindergarten is the town's coroner/doctor. As such, Karla finds herself working with the police rather than against as is so often the case in cozy mysteries. I liked that.

So, who is Karla avoiding? Why? Is Karla really basically a human lie detector? How does BFF Rob/Robin explain this ability? Do we all have tells? Probably. Why was the suicide note crumpled? Was the murder personal or random? Why does Karla have such an extensive wardrobe? Is Leon as good a guy as he wants to be seen? Was Fitz guilty of sloppy construction as Harry thinks? What's in those envelopes? Where did what's inside come from? How good is Lynn's weather prediction ability? Will Gucci be legal or not? And....

Well, never mind. Read the book for the answers to these questions and more, including adorable dogs. You won't be disappointed. I know I'm delighted to have another binge-worthy series available, especially with the hints of what is coming next.