The first of my Christmas presents didn't let me down.  I'm here to tell you that Elouise Norton, LAPD detective, is a breath of fresh air in police procedural/crime fiction.

Lou is smart, funny, sexy, intense as well as being a perfectly flawed individual.  Yes, sometimes her personal experiences and biases colour how she views a case and how she interacts with her co-workers, but she's so very real!  She has none of those endearing quirky flaws that many crime fiction leads have either.

Lou's current case begins with a house fire and three dead bodies and of course, there's far more than meets the eye.  As Lou and her partner, Colin, pursue the case, she also has to deal with her once-estranged but now back home husband, Greg.  And the remnants of the death by murder of her older sister years before (we saw the solving of that case play out in the previous book).

The twisty trail of the case kept me hooked through the book and while I had suspicions that changed as I went along, the culmination of everything was still pretty much of a surprise.  Not so surprising was the plot of Lou's marriage trials and tribulations, however there were a few bits that I wasn't expecting.  I do hope that in the next book we see more of Lou's friends, Lena and Sayeeta.  They're great characters and I love their interactions with Lou.  Girl power!  :)

I only have one complaint and I don't even know that it's valid, me being a white woman and all, but there MUST be some other way to describe POC skin than to liken it to some coffee or chocolate drink. (And in a book/series with a majority of POC characters, there is a lot of skin described!)

So my second foray into Lou Norton's world was a resounding success.  I loved it and have added Book 3 to my wishlist.

This is the first of the Detective Elouise Norton novels, in which we are introduced to the very real character of Elouise and follow her as she tries to solve the murder of a young woman in current day Los Angeles. That it mirrors another disappearance from her past makes the case that much more important.  

Elouise, Lou as her friends call her, is a very real, very interesting, very recognisable character. I grew to like her very, very much.  The author was not afraid of giving her believable flaws to go along with her believable talents.  And she's funny.  I like her wry wit and that amused cynical observation ability she has.  She's a terrific character to base a series on, if you ask me.  :)

I liked the cast of supporting characters as well.  They all seemed very real and were diverse where they needed to be diverse.  In other words, I didn't feel as if the different ethnicities were added because that's what we do now.  (So often the diversity seems inserted just for approval, I find.)  This is how a detective squad looks in LA.  I assume that in later books (the 3rd volume is out next month, I think... and a quick look at the blurbs tell me that it's so) we will be exploring more and more of them.  

The murder mystery had me going until the end and the climax of the story worked quite well, I thought.  I also appreciated the short chapters - it kept a sense of urgency going throughout the novel.  I kept wanting to turn the pages and then ... oh, just another chapter before I turn out the light.  Some authors will say that it doesn't matter and I have to disagee.  :)

So yes... I'm adding Elouise Norton to the mystery series that I will follow.  It was really good!  

I read a lot so it's always a treat to find a book I really enjoy from a previously unknown (to me) author. This police procedural/thriller features a strong, smart & compassionate female protagonist trying to juggle a demanding career with a failing marriage.

Elouise "Lou" Norton is a LAPD homicide detective who has risen above a childhood riddled with poverty & tragedy. She grew up in "the jungle", a bleak & sullen area of the city where career options include gangsta, teen pregnancy & welfare. It's also where she lost her sister. Twenty five years ago, Tori disappeared from behind Napoleon Crase's liquor store & it's haunted Lou ever since.

So when a teenage girl is found hanging on one of Crase's construction sites, Lou is more than a little interested. 

She has always believed he knows more about Tori than he let on. In the interim, he's become a wealthy & powerful businessman...one with a rep for getting physical with pretty young things. As Lou & her partner Det. Colin Taggert start to dig, another girl is found dead.

In alternate chapters, the story is told by the anonymous killer. The reader travels with him as he trolls for his next victim & becomes fascinated with Lou. It's obvious he's ill, fighting off hallucinations & physical tics with a steady diet of booze & coke. We also meet his companion, a young woman who knows what he's done & caters to his every need. 

It's a complex plot with many ties between the past & present. Several characters have secrets they've kept hidden for years & the author does a good job of slowly revealing their histories. There is a large diverse cast ranging from tech wizards to gang bangers & their respective neighbourhoods are well described in atmospheric & gritty prose. 

I really enjoyed this. It's refreshing to encounter a female cop who wasn't portrayed as the stereotypical bitch on wheels, always at odds with her male counterparts. She's not an iconoclastic loner with her name engraved on a bar stool. Lou is smart, acerbic & popular with her colleagues. She shows up each day armed with a gun & the black humour that's as necessary as kevlar for protection ("I could spot a fake Chanel handbag quicker than I could spot a hooker on fire").

Her achilles heel is her husband who creates popular video games. They've been married for 11 years & his success affords them an affluent lifestyle. Unfortunately, he's not a big fan of monogamy & Lou suspects he's fallen off the wagon again (quick moment of your time, Lou....kick this rat bastard to the curb....NOW). Other characters include her BFF's Lena & Syeeda, a freelance reporter featured in the book "No One Knows You're Here". Their relationships come across as genuine, the kind of gal pals who have your back.

Colin is an unwitting source of humour. He's a recent transplant from Colorado & couldn't be a bigger fish out of water. Compared to his home town, LA might as well be Mars & his character is the perfect foil for the street smart Lou.

Except for chapters narrated by the killer, the story is told from Lou's POV. The prose is fluid, descriptive & witty as we accompany her throughout the investigation. Her wry comments concerning the city & its' inhabitants run the gamut from funny to poignant, making the reader feel as if they're in the car with her, riding shotgun.

If pressed, I had two minor quibbles with the story. One concerns the sister of the first victim. Without divulging more of the plot ( there are some startling revelations in store), she begins her own investigation with Lou's tacit support & this just didn't ring true for me. I get that Lou identifies with being the sister left behind but I doubt any homicide detective would encourage a family member to actively search for a dangerous killer.

The other is the amount of space dedicated to flashbacks into Lou & Tori's childhood. We revisit much of their life before Tori was snatched & I felt this slowed the pace & interrupted the mounting tension of the current investigation. However, other readers may enjoy this in-depth history so I think it's just a matter of taste. 

By the end, our killer is uncovered & Lou is left reeling from what she learns of Tori's fate. It's a stylish, fast paced read that keeps you turning the pages. I would definitely pick up a sequel to find out what's in store next for Lou & Co.