Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka

What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur, 2018) is the second book in the contemporary private investigator series featuring Roxane Weary in Columbus, Ohio. Roxane is retained by the owner of a local printing company to follow his fiancé, whose behavior leads him to believe she is having an affair. Roxane follows her for a few days and sees nothing that suggests another man but also nothing that indicates she is a successful and busy interior decorator as her client believes. Late one night while Roxane is not on the job, however, the fiancé is killed in a neighborhood where she would not ordinarily be, and her client’s fingerprints are found on the bullets. Roxane can’t believe her client is capable of murder and dives headlong into an investigation that unfolds into a startling number of complicated family relationships that includes a gold-digging second wife, a drive-by shooting at the print shop, and a scheme to defraud seniors of their homes and the valuable antiques in them.

I am always looking for contemporary women crime authors who write police procedurals and private investigator novels, and I was initially enthusiastic about this one. The creative plot twists and turns and the different character threads are all tied up in the end in a masterful manner. I was frankly wondering where some of the storylines were going, yet they came together quite skillfully. However, Roxane’s tendency to self-flagellation in regard to her supposed failures as a daughter/sister/friend/lover/human being got old quickly. I have no idea why anyone thinks that stuff is fun to read – it isn’t. The last book I tried to read with an angsty heroine, also a contemporary private investigator story, went back to the library unfinished. The plot in this one was innovative and executed admirably enough to keep me reading to the end, but the main character is annoying nonetheless. The next in the series is not on my must-read list.

·         Hardcover: 304 pages

·         Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 1, 2018)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 1250120535

·         ISBN-13: 978-1250120533

Aubrey Hamilton ©2019

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.