Killer Words by V. M. Burns

Available November 30, 2021

Throughout this series, Detective Bradley "Stinky" Pitt has been Samantha's arch-nemesis. But she and Nana Jo show their true colors when Stinky finds himself accused of murder. Though they're not great friends, they know Stinky is a man of integrity and not one to break the law so they launch an investigation to clear his name.

There are several viable suspects for the murder of pot-stirrer John Cloverton. Cloverton is running for office and doing his best to uncover all the dirt he can on anyone in the community who holds a position of power. It's up to Sam and Nana Jo and "the girls" to find out who had the most to gain by keeping their secrets, regardless of the cost.

There have been issues throughout the series with time, I believe it's because Nana Jo was originally supposed to have been Sam's mother and at the last minute another generation was added but the timeline wasn't corrected accordingly. Adjustments have been made throughout the series, and I think in this book everything finally fits.

This series also features a story-within-the-story, Sam's books that she's writing. In previous books I've felt like those stories were easy to follow but I struggled with it this time. There were lots of characters and I really didn't know who they all were or who was related to who and who was romantically involved with who. That being said, the stories don't relate to anything in the book so not being able to follow them didn't take away from my enjoyment of the rest of the book.

I love the setting, Sam's mystery bookshop with her spacious apartment above. I also like the characters, "the girls" being a rowdy group of seniors who do karate and pick up guys, and "the kids" being Sam's nephews and "adopted" son and their friends. Sam eludes to how things are changing as the kids grow up and her relationship changes and I think the next few books in the series will be very different from the last few. I look forward to reading them.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.