by Cynthia Chow

Details at the end of this review on how to enter to win a copy of Nun Too Soon, along with a link to purchase the book where a portion goes to help support KRL & an indie bookstore.

Giulia Falcone-Driscoll is finally in a place where she feels she has left behind her past as Sister Mary Regina Coelis. Now married, Giulia runs Driscoll Investigations along with her assistants, the past-the-ninth-month pregnant Sidney, computer whiz Zane and the new neck-tattooed employee, Jane Pierce. Giulia needs all of the help she can get when she’s hired by attorney Colby Petit. The goal? To prevent his client from being arrested for the notorious Silk Tie Murder and discover the true killer. The case won’t be an easy one, with damning DNA evidence, accusations by the late Loriela Gil’s relatives and Fitch’s presence at the scene of the crime. Perhaps the greatest liability will be Roger Fitch himself, an unlikable and reprehensible human who delights in irritating others.

No one said that you have to like your client. Giulia may be pushing ethical boundaries given Fitch is also a potential suspect in the embezzling case AtlanticEdge has hired her investigate. In between bouts of weeding through tedious amounts of statistics, Giulia will question Loriela’s ex-boyfriends, the co-workers she stepped over on her way up the ladder and even Fitch’s own attorney. While Giulia’s husband Frank has returned to his job as a police detective, he has no problem giving advice from the sidelines as Giulia more than proves her merit as a competent investigator. Far more challenging is the needed tolerance of Fitch’s impatience, narcissism, sexism, and misogyny. If the nuns taught Giulia one thing, it was how to endure unreasonable and tyrannical demands. No pushover, Giulia hasn’t got a problem taking advantage of someone who wrongfully makes that assumption.

In this fifth novel featuring Giulia and Driscoll Investigations, Giulia has come into her own as a confident and capable detective. Readers will delight in how she has matured and grown secure in her new identity out of the convent. This is never more apparent than in her interactions with the manipulative and demanding Fitch, who revels in his attempts to shock her with his sexual exploits. Just as enjoyable are scenes where Giulia’s husband and his police captain acknowledge her skill and never question her competence. Driscoll Investigations utilizes the latest technologies even as a social-media driven “news” team does what it can to make their tasks more arduous. Giulia and her team are sheer fun to follow, with their irrelevant banter and snappy dialogue, ensuring that readers will be entertained in this sharply written mystery.

To enter to win a copy of Nun Too Soon, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Nun,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 17, 2015. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

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Click on this link to purchase this book and you will be supporting an indie bookstore & a portion goes to help support KRL.

Nun Too Soon

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).