Review by Booklist Review
When her boyfriend Joey runs off with their rent money, Doll Devine is forced to move into the apartment above her guardian's Chicago mainstay bar, McPhee's. At least it's close to work. Doll's country music band is McPhee's house act. In true Murphy's Law spirit, her biological mother, Marisa, shows up hoping to revisit their past. Doll's not having it, and Marisa finally leaves. But the next morning, Doll's young half-sister Sicily appears, claiming their mother has disappeared. Doll can't explain why she's compelled to help, especially as she hasn't wanted to see Marisa since she abandoned Doll to foster care. Still, she is poking into Marisa's second life as a wealthy supermom when Joey's body is found in McPhee's alley. Cutthroat real estate deals, mob rumors, and competing versions of Doll's past are tied to the mysteries, but Doll will have to reconcile her losses to see the truth. Rader-Day's fully realized characters and redemption through-line will hook readers here; recommended for fans of Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski mysteries.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An aspiring country singer grapples with family turmoil and murder in this exceptional standalone from Rader-Day (The Death of Us). The action kicks off with Dahlia Devine at rock bottom: she's been evicted from her Chicago apartment after her boyfriend, Joey, fled with the couple's meager savings. A life of hardship--including a childhood spent in the care of a drug-addicted mother--has prepared her to weather the storm, but Dahlia is thrown further off her axis when her mom shows up at McPhee's Tavern, where Dahlia regularly performs with a country music cover band, after two decades of radio silence. The next morning, her mother is gone again, and a woman claiming to be Dahlia's half sister arrives trying to find her. While Dahlia absorbs these shocks, someone is murdered outside of McPhee's, and she concludes that something organized and dangerous is at play just beneath the surface of her troubles. Rader-Day excels at conjuring the sights and sounds of her Chicago setting, and Dahlia is a spunky, unforgettable heroine. The result is a consistently surprising mystery that readers will be hard-pressed to put down. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In Rader-Day's (The Death of Us) new mystery, Dahlia Devine appears to have hit rock bottom. Her boyfriend has run out on her, and he has the rent money, leading to Dahlia's eviction and forcing her to crash in a shabby apartment above the bar where she performs. If this sounds like the makings of a country song, that's a small bright spot, as Chicago-based Dahlia is determined to make it as a country-western singer. Her life becomes even more complicated when her mother, Marisa, whom she hasn't seen since she was six years old, shows up at the bar, wanting to reconnect. When she's rebuffed, Marisa leaves the bar and promptly goes missing, causing Dahlia's half-sister to show up looking for her. When a body is found in the alley behind the bar, and Dahlia's dear friends are suspected, Dahlia delves into both the death and her mother's disappearance, leading to discoveries about her own past and identity. VERDICT Suspense novelist Rader-Day changes pace with this sharply funny, heartfelt mystery, and every bit of it works. Its exploration of family secrets will delight fans of Nina Simon's Mother-Daughter Murder Night and Nita Prose's The Maid.--Jane Jorgenson
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Messy felonious mom, annoying newfound sister, and murder: It's not a country song, it's her life. Fed up with her no-account boyfriend, aspiring country singer Dahlia "Doll" Devine convinces the landlord to let her into Joey's apartment to retrieve her personal effects before crashing with her friend Oona, whose dogs, Bear and Lemon, greet her warmly. Next, it's off to McPhee's Tavern, where Doll sings for her supper to the delight of the three pub regulars whom she tags the Jims: Primary Jim, Lumpy Jim, and Silent Jim. Chicago's an unconventional locale for a country thrush, but as her tart first-person narration shows, Doll's an unconventional gal. Just as she's feeling a bit more in control, her messy mom, Marisa, glamorous and self-involved and usually on drugs, shows up unexpectedly--very unexpectedly, considering she hasn't been around since Doll was 6, two decades ago. Fortunately, Doll's dependable former guardian, Alex, appears to pick up the pieces and back Doll up. Though not her biological dad, he's always been there when she needed him. But things don't get any calmer for Doll. A waiflike girl named Sicily shows up at McPhee's with the news that she and Doll are sisters. Her description of Marisa as a caring and responsible parent wildly diverges from Doll's experience. Joey's found dead in the alley behind the tavern, and gruff detective Vince Aycock arrives looking for answers. Then Marisa goes missing. The murder investigation jockeys for Doll's attention as she and Sicily unsteadily search amid other comic distractions. If it's not one thing, it's your mother. A buoyant thriller with vivid characters and wisecracks aplenty. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
