cover image Too Big to Die: An Odelia Grey Mystery

Too Big to Die: An Odelia Grey Mystery

Sue Ann Jaffarian. Midnight Ink, $14.99 trade paperback (288p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1884-2

A trip to the grocery store for plus-size L.A. paralegal Odelia Gray and her husband, Greg Stevens, turns into a rescue mission in Jaffarian’s satisfying 12th Odelia Grey mystery (after 2016’s Rhythm and Clues) when they spot a pooch sweltering in a locked car. Greg takes a crowbar to the car window, much to the displeasure of the dog’s owner, former reality TV star Marla Kingston. Worse, Marla is married to powerful and vindictive businessman Kelton Kingston, the biggest client of Templin & Tobin, the law firm where Odelia works, and he demands that the firm fire Odelia or it will lose his business. Hurt and outraged when she’s put on leave, Odelia considers walking away from it all—until one of the men who helped rescue the dog is shot to death in front of Greg’s business. With the help of her best friend, Zee Washington, and a vlogger known only as Human Stain, Odelia discovers an unsavory web of blackmail, adultery, and murder, leading to a shocking, yet touching, ending. Smart, funny, good-hearted Odelia is the kind of friend anyone would love to have. Agent: Whitney Lee, Fielding Agency. (Dec.)