Book Review: Swift Justice by Laura DiSilverio (Charlie and Gigi Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, good story and mix of comic and serious

Cons: Some obnoxious Christian characters

The Bottom Line: 

Debut that mixes

The serious and funny

Enjoyable read

You'll Swiftly Fall for this Debut

I'm always picking up new series that sound like fun, fully intending to read them.  And there they sit until I get a chance to read them.  I finally got that chance with Swift Justice, and I wish I had read it sooner.

Charlotte "Charlie" Swift's PI business has been slowly growing over the years, and she thinks she might finally be getting ahead.  Then her world changes when Georgia "Gigi" Goldman walks in the door.  Gigi is the wife of Charlie's silent business partner, a man who has just divorced her and left her with few assets beside Swift Investigations.  And Gigi has no interest in being a silent partner but wants to be Charlie's real partner in the business.

While Charlie tries everything she can think of to get Gigi to quit, she also takes on a new client.  Melissa Lloyd has recently had a baby dumped on her doorstep - a baby left by the daughter she gave up for adoption seventeen years before.  Melissa wants her daughter tracked down so she can take back the baby fast.  But with nothing to go on, can Charlie do it?  And will she drive Gigi away?

This book had a very mixed tone, but it worked.  The main plot was fairly serious and at times emotional and tragic.  And yet the sub-plot involving Gigi was always funny.  I found myself laughing at a few of her escapades.  Mind you, this was from a mix of her inexperience and what happened to her.

I liked both of the main characters.  In their own ways, Charlie and Gigi are smart and resourceful women.  They already feel real to me, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them in the very near future.

The rest of the cast was equally real to me.  It made the stakes in the mystery higher because I really did care about the outcome.

The mystery was strong with some twists that kept me guessing until the end.  I managed to be surprised by the ending.

My only real problem with the book was a very anti-religious bent.  Some of the characters are very obnoxious and hypocritical about their overly religious ways.  Unfortunately, there are people like that in the world.  I just wish they had been better balanced out by more than Charlie's neighbor who doesn't play a huge part in the story overall.  I'm hopeful this won't be a theme in the series but a result of this particular mystery.  And again, I can't pick apart these characters because unfortunately, there are really people like them in the world.

All told, I can't wait until I can get my hands on the sequel to Swift Justice.  I really do think this promises to be a great new series.