Nine year old Kayla is sneaking into the guarded building her mother was killed in. She had done this a hand full of times before, but this time would be different. Claire Kennedy was killed here a week ago and there had to be a connection between Claire's death and her mothers murder.
Lucas and Paige are out of town for the week on a vacation - in which Savannah smuggled their cell phones away from them - and now twenty-one year old Savannah is trusted to be in charge of the PI office in their absence. Jesse Aanes, a half demon PI from Seattle who has worked with Lucas before, shows up wanting to run a few cases past Lucas. Jesse is investigating the murder of 3 twenty-something year old girls - two from last fall, one from 10 days ago - abandoned in the same vacant building appearing similar, in a quite small depressed town - Columbus Washington. This poor little town hasn't seen a murder in ten years. Jesse believes there is a supernatural connection to these cases from the crime photos he has. Savannah is excited. This would be her first solo case after five years of working under Lucas and Paige. She offers to take this case for Jesse while he finishes up the current case he's on.
This book was a great quick read for me. The pacing was constantly moving forward and it wasn't diluted with heavy unneeded material, and the mystery kept growing in suspense for me driving me forward to read more and faster. This is a great book to jump in the series at even though it's the eleventh book. I learned a lot of history of Savannah and start off with her on her own adventures. Through the book you learn of the additional characters around Savannah; Page, Lucas, Adam, and a few others. In meeting a few of the characters in this deprived town there was one I hope to see more of as I just fell in love with, Kayla.
I liked how Kelley answered my thoughts when I had a question. Like when Savannah easily uses several spells in a row in a short time frame, Kelley acknowledges this and explains it. A great style I enjoyed here is in reading this book from Savannah's view, you get glimpses of her history and heritage. I am very curious to learn more about her and when Paige and Lucas became her guardians. Savannah has moments where she compares what she is doing to what Lucas or Paige would do or what they would say to her. I felt I got to know them through Savannah.
Kelley's writing style is easy to visualize and follow. The story starts off easy, but pulled me in to Savannah quickly. She really felt like a relatable character and one that was personable. I wanted to read more about her. The further I went the more in depth the mystery got. I enjoyed how the mystery turned around in the book. I found myself flipping back through the pages to reread sections to try and piece it together myself.
This book could be read by some mature Young Adults. Savannah is responsible with alcohol even though she is old enough to drink. There is mention of sexual activity and acts, but no details. Savannah does have a moment in the book where she is kissing, but she does not let it go further - she has her limits.
I really enjoyed the case with Savannah and look forward to reading more with Savannah, as the way this book ended Kelley has to come back to write more on Savannah and I will be waiting. But I am also ready to go buy the other books in the series as I loved what I learned of all the characters.