cover image Finding Sky: A Nicki Valentine Mystery

Finding Sky: A Nicki Valentine Mystery

Susan O'Brien. Henery (www.henerypress.com), $15.95 trade paper (276p) ISBN 978-1-940976-30-3

Nicki Valentine, the heroine of O'Brien's engaging cozy debut, has her hands full as a widowed mother of two, four-year-old Sophie and six-year-old Jack, in a Washington, D.C., suburb. Nicki is studying to become a PI, and is looking forward to the day Sophie and Jack are in school full-time. When her best friend, Kenna, phones to tell her that Beth, the 18-year-old mother-to-be of the baby Kenna plans to adopt, has disappeared, Nicki seizes the chance to put what she's learned in her PI training course to work. Beth's parents and the adoption agency people figure she has run away, but Nicki, mindful of her own experience with pregnancy, can't imagine the girl fleeing when she's in her 38th week. Nicki proves a resourceful sleuth as she gets on the trail of the missing teen. The conclusion will leave readers eager for the next installment. (Oct.)