#69 The Late Show by Michael Connelly

This is a new series from Michael Connelly set in the LAPD. New characters but the same type of cop, one who cares about the victim and sometimes does things that bend the rules in order to work for justice. Renee keeps most people at an arms distance in her life after being burned by her previous partner and banished to the night shift. Two cases that couldn’t be more different catch her in one night and by the end of the book both are solved. One is the savage beating of a prostitute and the other is a mass shooting in a club. With the shooting case she is just an extra set of hands for the evening while her old squad has the case. The other case she is allowed to work instead of handing it over to the day shift. The overall story is good and I want to see more with her. I just wonder if Harry and Renee will cross paths at some point down the line.

#70 A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford

On her 13th wedding anniversary she drops the bombshell that she wants a divorce, thanks to her husband’s infidelity and lies about his constant work travel. As she leaves the restaurant she then finds out that her husband is a wizard and the company is a front for a council he works for as a sheriff. As the story unfolds G, the cheating husband can’t stand to part with information that might have helped his family come to understand that they have magic and might be in danger from something he is working on and his past. Daffy works hard at trying to keep a normal life for the kids even as she and them find out they have magic and their father can do the same. So much of the plot of the book would be brushed aside if the characters could bother to share info. G about his first wife not being dead and how and why she is on the rampage. The council for destroying the info of how his first wife escaped jail and hiding that fact from him until he realizes she is the killer he is tracking. The kids that even after being told they have magic and start exploring their powers they still don’t tell the each other or their parents when something odd magical happens around them.
The characters are flawed and there isn’t a happily ever after at the end and there is room for more stories in the series. But I do want to see more in this setting to see how they are all going to grow up and that includes both parents in this story.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.