cover image Best Defense: Beth Bowman, P.I.

Best Defense: Beth Bowman, P.I.

Randy Rawls. Midnight Ink (www.midnightinkbooks.com), $14.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-7387-3461-3

Rawls’s energetic second outing for South Florida PI Beth Bowman (after 2012’s Hot Rocks) opens as Beth enters her wealthy client Sabrina Hammonds’s home and discovers the bodies of Sabrina and her maid. Sabina had suspected her defense attorney husband, John, of being unfaithful, leading Beth to believe that John is the murderer—until she learns that the couple’s five-year-old daughter, Ashley, has been kidnapped. John insists that only Beth can rescue Ashley, and uses his political clout to demand she be given the lead on the official investigation. His demand only increases the existing friction between Beth and the Coral Lake Police. Beth enlists the help of a group of homeless people she befriended during a previous adventure and begins the major undertaking of combing for suspects through Hammonds’s client list, which reads like a who’s who of dirtbags. There are a few dull moments, but ultimately, this is a satisfying, lighthearted adventure. (Nov.)