Read as part of cbr12bingo: Gateway. I frequently recommend Kristen Lepionka’s work to budding mystery fans, especially ones looking for an LGBTQIA+ author and/or protagonist.
I don’t know how long Kristen Lepionka plans to continue with this series. I believe her next book is going to be a standalone separate from Roxane’s character (and perhaps universe?). I think she’s of the modern age sort of writer that unless you really catch bestselling fire with a series (a la Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch), there comes a time when it just has to be let go.
And I can understand that if she needs a break or wants to end it soon but personally speaking, I hope to get plenty more.
Roxane Weary is an interesting enough character, though I think Lepionka is plumbing the back story a bit too hard at this point. I root for her. I want her to succeed. I like how she barely holds her life together but still manages to do it.
But as interesting as Roxane is, Lepionka writes intriguing mysteries. Frequently, I don’t know where she’s taking us and while she can sometimes lose the thread, she always manages to explore different angles with new characters, while continuing to slowly build up the ones around her.
This might be her best work yet. It’s a layered mystery, even more so than its predecessors but she handles it well and brings it home with satisfaction, if some predictability. It’s the same consistency that I appreciate and again, I think one of the reasons I do is because Lepionka is my age, came up with my generation and has many of my sentiments. I really cherish these books.