Murder Under Her Skin

Murder Under Her Skin by Stephen Spotswood, 352 pages.

Will Parker has to go back to the circus that raised her after an old friend is murdered and her knife-throwing mentor is on the hook for the crime. She left the circus to do detective work with Lillian Pentecost, but in many ways it's still part of her, which makes this case extremely personal, especially as it becomes less and less clear why anyone would want to kill the tattooed lady.

This book was so much fun! I read Fortune Favors the Dead not long after it came out, and enjoyed it enough that I meant to read this one immediately, but didn't get around to it for a few year. I regret waiting so long. This book has a really great classic noir feel, but with a bisexual female lead. We really get to dig into Will's character (and especially her flaws) this book, and I found that it only made her more compelling. The mystery was interesting and twisty, without at any point feeling like the number of twists got improbable. It's the kind of mystery where the details make more sense after the facts, which I really appreciate. Book three is already on hold for me, and I strongly recommend this series to anyone who likes a classic character driven mystery.