Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Unpunished

Unpunished by Lisa Black
Kensington: 1/31/17
eBook review copy; 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9781496701909
Gardiner and Renner Series #2

Unpunished by Lisa Black is a police procedural and the second book in a series featuring forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner and homicide detective Jack Renner.

This time Robert Davis, a copy editor at the Cleveland Herald, is found hanging off the railing above the print room during the nightly press run for the paper.  At first it appears to be a suicide, but upon closer inspection it is clear that Davis was murdered. Maggie Gardier and Jack Renner are involved in the investigation. They have a wary truce and share a secret that could ruin both of them. The investigation includes a mass of information about the death keel of the print news industry today. Can the murderer be found before he or she strikes again?

My first advice is to read Lisa Black's That Darkness first. As the second in a series where I somehow missed the first book, That Darkness, I was missing some vital background information on the two characters. Although I could gather the gist of it, I actually wanted more information to help create a complete picture of the two characters. I know they were involved in a case where Maggie figured out Jack was a serial killer/vigilante who eliminated the bad guys who deserved to die. Maggie has a secret that she shares with him and the two have an uneasy truce/agreement. Very intriguing characters, but I had incomplete background information about the two.

Setting that aside, figuring out who did it was pretty darn easy in this case, but I think the book was more about these two characters and their uneasy alliance. There is also a plethora of information about the death of the newspaper industry. Black researched the facts and includes a bibliography of the books that helped her research. It was fun to see the case develop and the clues that are followed.

The writing is great. I enjoyed following the investigation and I like Maggie, but I wanted the full backstory. Sometimes you can read a mystery series out of order, sometimes you can't. You need to read this series in the order intended. I did enjoy it and was glued to the pages through the whole book.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Kensington Publishing.

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