Member Review

In this fourth novel of the Chiara Corelli Mystery series, Corelli hands off the lead detective role to her trainee and bodyguard P.J. Parker in what appears to be a simple homicide. Simple and homicide soon diverge as Parker and Corelli find out the victim is an investigative reporter with multiple aliases. The threads they follow lead to groups of dangerous white nationalists and a lucrative black mailing business.

The first sentence of the novel stopped me in my tracks. I reread it a number of times at first trying to understand the meaning and then just reading it for its ingenuity. The sentence brought me back fours years ago to the first novel, A Matter of Blood, when her brothers and sisters in blue were actively trying to end her life. Was Chiara walking toward her own death or a homicide? I was captured once again by Maiorisi’s consummate writing.

Legacy in the Blood is a masterful and complex mystery which never lets the reader breathe easy. Parker is in constant peril with the white nationalists while Corelli keeps looking over her shoulder for blow back from her fellow officers. The mystery expands and reaches outward in many different directions however Maiorisi reigns it all together in a convincing fashion by the end. The only small misstep in the story is a slowish reconning of who was behind the murder when all the facts were on the table. Other than this, Legacy in the Blood is a must read for all mystery readers.

I received an advance review copy from Bella Books and NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.