Deceived: A Kelly Pruett Mystery

Keliikoa’s strong third mystery featuring Portland, Ore., PI Kelly Pruett (after 2021’s Denied) finds Kelly, who has inherited her father’s investigative firm, dealing with routine matters like process-serving, tracing bail-jumpers, and tailing suspected unfaithful spouses. Then she’s consulted by one of her father’s longtime clients, Bernie Sokol, who founded a women’s homeless shelter, Loving Grace, named for his sister who died from a drug overdose. Grace’s daughter, Amber Moore, an 18-year-old homeless addict, has been missing for five days, and given her age and addiction the police aren’t pursuing the matter vigorously. Shortly before Amber disappeared, she left Sokol an answering machine message suggesting that she’d found evidence of drug-dealing at the shelter, followed by another stating that “they” were onto her. Kelly accepts the case and goes undercover at the shelter. One of the residents Kelly befriends soon disappears, and her efforts to find both girls place her at risk. A credible lead matches a plausible plot. Admirers of gritty, nonsensational hard-boiled mysteries will be eager for more. Agent: Michelle Richter, Fuse Literary. (May)