Still a Bitch

Rachel Cord, P.I., Still a Bitch:
A Confidential Investigations Mystery
By R. E. Conary
(Outskirts Press / 1-432-75879-9 / 978-1-432-75879-0 / May 2010 / 270 pages / $16.95 / Amazon and B&N $12.20)

Reviewed by Lloyd Lofthouse for PODBRAM

Rachel Cord is a private detective, who wants to save enough money to have a breast reduction from double H to a C-cup or at least a B. She is also a lesbian who picks up beautiful women easier than cutting ice cream with a red-hot knife. Most men would envy how fortunate Cord is. I did.

When Cord is handed a missing person's case, she cannot turn it down since she needs the money to make her house payment. However, there are plenty of challenges. Rachel has a PI license to practice in Philadelphia, PA, but not across the river in New Jersey. She also has beautiful lovers on both sides of the river, and she's in danger of losing Wendy when her kinky tryst with Danny (the missing man's sister) is discovered.

Cord's problems get worse when most of the clues turn up in New Jersey, and there's a New Jersey cop who hates her and wants to throw her in jail. If she doesn't have enough challenges working on the wrong side of the river, the Philadelphia police want to know where Cord's former lover Karen is hiding. It seems that Karen is a serial killer who has been leaving a trail of dead bodies across the country, and she may be back in town.

Although I ran into a "few" missing commas and a typo or two, I read Conary's book in three days. I do not read books that fast unless the story hooks me. In fact, my favorite mystery authors are James Lee Burke, Dick Frances and Tony Hillerman. Conary brews a plot to compete with these three.

See also: R. E. Conary's Website
Review of the first book in the Rachel Cord, P.I., Series