cover image There Was a Crooked Man: A Cat DeLuca Mystery

There Was a Crooked Man: A Cat DeLuca Mystery

K.J. Larsen. Poisoned Pen, $26.95 (222p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0591-0

Those fond of big ethnic families with branches on both sides of the law will best appreciate Larsen’s fifth mystery featuring smart-alecky Chicago PI Cat DeLuca (after 2015’s Bye, Bye Love). Even though Cat’s two-person operation, the Pants on Fire Detective Agency, specializes in tracking wayward spouses—or hootchie stalking, as longtime friend Capt. Bob Maxfield of the CPD calls it—her latest case involves butting into Bob’s business. She can’t help herself after learning that Bob’s dog, Sam I Am, has been kidnapped. Bob, who’s also her retired CPD detective father’s former police partner, would sooner that she took a leap off the end of Navy Pier. Plying him with donuts and lemon tarts, Cat eventually gets Bob to open up and learns that her father is involved in a cover-up that threatens both men’s reputations. The wisecracking PI must fend off dual mortal threats—one from desperate bad guys, another from her matchmaking, cannoli-baking mother—in this middling series entry. (Sept.)