Gambling with Murder by Lida Sideris

Series Name: Southern California Mystery #5
Genre: Cozy
Release: March 29, 2022

A late-night call is all it takes for rookie lawyer Corrie Locke to kiss her day job at the movie studio goodbye, and do what she does best: flex her sweet P.I. skills and go undercover to find a senior who’s missing from a posh retirement community. One small stumbling block: skirting past security to gain inside access to the exclusive Villa Sunset. Time to call in the heavy artillery. Besides former security guard turned legal assistant—now wannabe P.I.—Veera, Corrie relies on a secret weapon: her mother, a surprisingly eager addition to Corrie’s team. Armed with enough pepper spray to take down a band of Navy Seals, Mom impersonates a senior to infiltrate the Villa, Corrie and Veera in tow. Turns out the job’s not as easy as they’d thought. These seniors have tricks tucked up their sleeves and aren’t afraid of using them.

The action gets dicey when the missing senior case turns into attempted murder by a criminal mind who’s always one step ahead. Corrie’s hot on the trail, but finds more than she bargained for. . .when her mother becomes a target.

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Dru’s Short Musing:
I was immediately immersed in this well-written, fast-paced and action-packed tale. Corrie enlists her mother to help in her latest case and things happens rather quickly and didn’t stop until the last page was turned. The author did a great job in setting this up with a tightly woven mystery, clues left to be discovered and following the trails left to figure out what was going on. The narrative was visually descriptive with engaging dialogue that put me in the middle of all the action. There were moments of humor that had me laughing out loud. This was very enjoyable read and I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for Corrie and her investigative team.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author.