Swift Justice

In DiSilverio's winning debut, Colorado Springs, Colo., PI Charlotte "Charlie" Swift, a former U.S. Air Force investigator, gets saddled with a wildly out-of-place partner, Gigi Goldman, the just-dumped wife of Charlie's now-fugitive financial backer. But a situation that's as hard for the smart-mouthed single to swallow as Gigi's kittens-and-ducklings office redecoration makes for a promising odd-couple premise, especially once Charlie starts giving the socialite outlandish assignments in the hope she'll quit—like performing undercover surveillance while working as a burger chain's bison mascot. And it develops that Gigi's people skills might actually help with the duo's complex latest case, locating the missing teen mother of the infant left on the doorstep of their client, an abuse survivor who herself gave up the baby's mother for adoption. DiSilverio shifts seamlessly between breezy banter and the weightier tone the investigation takes once murder enters the equation. Just as importantly, she creates an engaging community of characters readers will want to revisit. Author tour. (Oct.)