Title: The Devil You Know
Author: P.J. Tracy
Release Date: January 17th, 2023
Page Count: 294
Start Date: January 2nd, 2023
Finish Date: January 16th, 2023

Review:
Story: This is the third book in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. I really enjoyed it very much. I'm going to have to get it in audio when it releases to go with my other two audiobooks in the series. I'm bound to reread it eventually. These books are pretty dark, but not too dark. I don't know how to really explain it better than that. I had trouble trying to predict anything that happened. Something I enjoy doing with mysteries. I sincerely hope that there are more books in this series.
Characters: I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives. The other two did the same thing. I guess it's kind of obvious that Nolan is my favorite of all of them. She's just so level headed. She's constantly surrounded by very negative colleagues who would rather shut the case down quickly than accurately. Not her though. She's tough, but she's fair. She's willing to hear people out.
Critiques: None
Final Thoughts: I can't believe I've completely read all three books in this series. I really enjoyed them much more than I could ever explain. I want to see more books in this series. I'm a little sad that I don't have any more books in this world to read if I'm being honest. I also love that this is written by a mother daughter team. That makes it even more wonderful in my opinion. These books can all be read as standalones, but I fully recommend reading them all. I know the authors also have other books out. I'll be checking them out as soon as I can.

The third installation of the Margaret Nolan series, this can be read as a stand-alone and is based in Los Angeles.

Margaret Nolan is called to a deadly after party crime scene after a VIP celebration concludes. Notable actor Evan Hobbes is found dead after a fake video surfaces on social media. Nolan and her team must figure out whether or not this is a murder, and if so, who would have the motive?

What transpires are a series of events that ultimately unleash the truth.

Not having read the first two books in this series, it took me a minute to understand who each character was (likely more character development in previous books), but after that, I enjoyed reading this book. I’m always a sucker for a good thriller and this one helped wrap up my 2022 reading goal last year.

DNF-Ed about halfway through. The book is just too disjointed and confusing to enjoy. I am wondering if not having read books 1&2 is a detriment to enjoying this book.

(Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC. This is my honest review)

Detective Margaret Nolan is back for the third book in her series, the Devil You Know. Honestly it was quite a come back for both the author and the character, because The Devil You Know does not fail to impress. At first I was on the fence about reading this one, but once I got started I was hooked.

After a Malibu rockslide the body of Evan Hobbes, an adored actor is found in the rubble. The initial belief is that he died in the rockslide but evidence points to homicide when Nolan and Crawford find bruises on Hobbes neck. Nolan is left with the investigation to determine if this is truly an accidental death, a suicide, or a homicide. You see the dearly loved Hobbes is not so innocent. Just a day before a rather discriminating photo was released of Hobbes that could potential ruin his career. Hobbes calls his agent absolutely devastated, and it is up to his agent to run damage control.

The case keeps on building and becoming more strange though as the body count builds up. Shortly after Hobbes's body is found another one is called in. To make it more challenging for Nolan and Crawford the victims are all connected.

During the twist and turns of the Devil You Know, the reader is also introduced to some unexpected plot twists that briefly touch on deeper issues like PTSD in veterans, the dark side of Hollywood, and recovery. This is what made the novel more realistic and enjoyable as the characters for me were that much more respected and appreciated. Their flaws were what made them seem more creditable especially with the very human nature of Nolan's indecisiveness of letting herself be loved.

While it hasn't been frequent that I have had chances to read any of Tracy's works, the Devil You Know certainly piqued my interest. The story left me guessing on who the killer was, and even the loose ends that were not tied up were not so bothersome. If you want a book that has murder and some very relatable detectives than I certainly recommend this book. Until next time, Happy Reading!

What's it about (in a nutshell):
The Devil You Know by P.J. Tracy is the third book in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. It can be read as a stand-alone, as I did, but I believe the reading experience will be much better if the series is read in order. There is one support character that is introduced in book 2, and this story picks up on that character where the previous book leaves off, causing some initial confusion if you don’t know that.
Actual Reading Experience:
I had trouble with The Devil You Know until about the 15-20% mark when the murder investigation finally began. Before that point, the chapters seem to be about random characters doing random mundane things. I didn’t know why I should care, which made the story very confusing. I think part of the reason for this is because I hadn’t read the first two books but also partly because of the writing style.
Once the murder investigation began, though, I enjoyed a complex mystery that kept me guessing. Every time I suspected someone of being the murderer, they turned up dead themselves. I liked that the story kept me thinking, and that technique kept my attention focused and sped up my reading.
I particularly loved the ending. To say it shocked me feels like an understatement of epic proportions.
Characters:
Margaret Nolan is the main character and a detective with the LAPD. She is intelligent, driven, competitive, hates losing, and loves her job. I couldn’t help but like her no-nonsense style, especially in a world full of fake Hollywood types.
Narration & Pacing:
The narration is in the third person, with the point of view changing from chapter to chapter and through many characters. I didn’t care for so many points of view. I prefer a more focused story from beginning to end, and too many points of view distract me.
Setting:
The setting is Hollywood which is fun by its very nature. The location is integral to the plot since the murder victims are all Hollywood types or somehow involved in that world.
Read if you like:
• Complex mysteries
• Multiple POVs
• Surprising endings

The Devil You Know is the third book in the series featuring LAPD Detective Maggie Nolan. It's my least favorite in the series for a number of reasons. Maggie Nolan is not a particularly interesting character, and it's unclear whether the author wants Maggie to explore her relationship with Remy or let distance pull it apart. The plot of this book centers around, well doesn't really "center" on anything, but starts with an actor who was popular as a child star becoming a victim of a deep-fake tape and accused of being a pedophile. That's followed by an almost seemingly random rash of murders, and the final resolutions leave something to be desired.
There were parts of the book where I found the writing rushed, I"m quite sure there's an entire paragraph where Sam was referred to as "she." I reread it twice and couldn't see how it would have been referring to Melody. Sam and Melody, characters from the first two books are in this one too, but for no apparent reason. Melody does have one moment where she remembers who was in a bar fight several years ago, but other than that I don't know why they received several chapter.s
Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A digital ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Margaret Nolan - Homicide detective
Al Crawford - Homicide detective (Nolan's partner)
Sam Easton - ex-army, family friend of Nolan
Daphna Love - actress
Seth Lehman - celebrity agent

This is #3 in the Detective Margaret Nolan series, and I have not read the first two books. Without having that background, I had a hard time figuring out what Sam's role in this book was and where his storyline was heading, I also didn't know/couldn't figure out who Remy was, why Al was so "smitten" with him and Margaret's relationship, or why she was able to tell him anything about her investigation. I felt like there was a lot of "advanced' vocabulary throughout the book that I had a hard time pronouncing, so it slowed me down. But for the most part I was able to use context clues and understand.

All this being said, I did enjoy this book. The murders had me guessing who it could be, and the investigation was thorough. Different police precincts and the FBI were brought in to solve multiple crimes. The epilogue explained something that I didn't think was wrapped up, so I definitely had to read to the very end.

I would recommend this book, especially if you have read the previous two books, for the crimes alone and how they were investigated is worth reading. I wasn't fully invested in any character, but my hope is that will come when I read the series from the beginning, (which I will)

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books.

A great murder mystery. I struggled a bit at the beginning when all the characters were introduced. I couldn't keep them all straight. It took a few chapters for me to get into the story. The mystery was a pretty good one. There were a good number of suspects and a number of plot twists. It came to a pretty satisfactory resolution. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy of P.J. Tracy’s newest police thriller, The Devil You Know!

The Devil You Know if the third book starring LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan. This book finds Detective Nolan and her partner called out to a dead body that falls out on to PCH after a rock slide. Upon arrival, they realize that the deceased is a Hollywood star named Evan Hobbes and Detective Nolan isn’t immediately convinced that this is an accidental death. As they investigate, it becomes clear that Evan’s death was no accident and he wasn’t the sweet, boy next-door that most people thought. As more bodies turn up, Detective Nolan must work with the whole law enforcement community to figure out how all these deaths fit together.

If you liked the first two Detective Nolan books, this one won’t disappoint. The only difference in this one is there is less of Sam Easton, although it is definitely set up for Sam to have a bigger role in the next book. If you haven’t read the other books in the series but like police dramas on TV, I would check this out. I really enjoy the characters and how the story weaves together.

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan’s latest case plunges her into this insular realm of privilege, and gives her a glimpse of the decay behind the glitter. Beloved actor Evan Hobbes is found in the rubble of a Malibu rockslide, a day after a fake video ruins his career. It’s not clear to Nolan if it’s an accident, a suicide, or a murder, and things get murkier as the investigation expands to his luminary friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Hobbes’s agent is dealing with damage control, his psychotic boss, and a woman he’s scorned.
I really wanted to like this one. The description sounded like it would be good, but it turned out not to be a good fit for me. There were so many characters that I just felt overwhelmed, and was unable to keep up with who everyone was. That really took away from my enjoyment of the story. It did have a good mystery, and I loved the ending, so overall it wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't the book for me.

Detective Margaret Nolan is back with her eclectic crew and this time they are investigating the death of an LA actor who was recently the victim of a deep fake video.

There were a lot of characters to keep straight in this one and I struggled some but overall this was a good read. I feel like Tracy is still figuring out who Nolan is in this series but we’re getting to know her better and better with each installment and I’m enjoying the journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy.

Available January 17, 2022.

P.J. Tracy has written another thrilling novel in her Margaret Nolan series with "The Devil You Know". Originally the author of my favorite Monkeewrench series with her late mother, Tracy continues the same genre by introducing us to a Hollywood actor whose strange death triggers a cast of agents, friends, and many others as prime suspects. The pacing is fast, the list of suspects grows, and keeps you guessing until the end of this novel. Tracy writing is smart and will satisfy any thriller and mystery reader who wants to explore the world of southern California and Hollywood.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up
Thanks to #Netgalley and #stmartinspress for the early copy. The opinions are my own.

This is my first Tracy novel and I see that it used to be a writing duo of mother daughter and now is only the daughter. I enjoyed the mystery and found it a strong police procedural with the crime almost always at the front of the story. Set in Hollywood among the rich and famous, it's a nice change of pace to have a different focus than the usual scum-of-the-earth serial killers. However, a rich murderer is still a killer and have more resources to hide the crime.

The writing style wasn't my favorite - and it's one of those things hard to quantify. The word choices were often too elaborate or too obscure (?) to read smoothly. I'd have to reread a sentence to make sure I understood what was being said. Maybe it's too many 50cent words just to use them? Not sure, it just didn't feel easy.

There are plenty of suspects and twists and turns in the investigation. I always like when the author shows the thought process of analyzing the evidence and trying to solve a case. My brain doesn't work that way, so I need the help. :) I enjoyed the detective partnership of Maggie and Al and the auxiliary crime solvers were given enough of a personality/back story to feel like people.

There were some references to previous installments, which is to be expected, but not so many that I felt lost in this book. I'd say it could be read as a standalone but, as with most series, I'm sure it's more enjoyable when you know everyone's backstory. All in all, a solid story and worth a read.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys (reviews will be posted 1/17/23 on Amazon, pinterest, and my blog)

The Devil You Know by PJ Tracy

This delightful whodunit keeps Detective Margaret Nolan very busy. Hollywood actors and agents are into all kinds of mischief, including a murder or two or more.

I loved the writing style of the author(s), which flows easily and is very modern/up to date and fun. The culprits are revealed quickly at the end, which was okay by me. All of the many well written characters were suspects in my book. It all worked for a plausible, satisfying ending.

A super story for any mystery lover, I thank #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for this five star ARC.

The Devil You Know is the third procedural mystery featuring Detective Margaret Nolan by P. J. Tracy. Due out 17th Jan 2023 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out 4th quarter 2023. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. 

This is a well engineered plot with several disparate threads entwining into a whole, including high profile Hollywood personalities and murder. All the characters seemed to be either irredeemably awful/shallow/predatory or irretrievably broken and suffering from PTSD/addiction/psychological problems (or a combination of all of the above). It makes for an often uncomfortably voyeuristic read in places.

The chapters are told in alternating third person and it's not always immediately clear which character is being written about without close attention. The prose is more intricate and flowery than is often the case with modern procedurals. It makes an interesting change from the usual. There are some content warnings, including addiction, sexual abuse (of a minor), and mentions of suicide and suicide ideation (brief mentions).

The mystery, resolution, and denouement are self contained in this volume, so it works fine as a standalone, with the codicil that there are developing relationships between the main and returning secondary characters. Readers reading the series out of order will encounter some spoilers for the earlier books. 

Four stars. It's a satisfying and well written somewhat gritty modern procedural. It's not at all derivative, but fans of Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, and Robert Crais will find a similar feel. (Especially to Connelly's Bosch books). 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Devil You Know is one of those twisty who-dun-its, with a lot of moving parts that will keep you guessing until the very end. As the third in a series, I was a bit nervous about picking it up without reading the first two...no worries, it was easy to read as a standalone, though I will gladly be adding #1 & 2 to my TBR.

Detective Nolan is a great character, and her relationship with Remy is something I look forward to seeing develop in future books of the series. The murders in this book keep piling up, and there are so many possible suspects, it was difficult to sort out which I was most suspicious did the crimes. I enjoyed the teasing, playful relationship between Al and Maggie. This book also involves Hollywood movers and shakers, which is a fun setting for murder!

If you are looking for a good detective series, P.J. Tracy's Detective Margaret Nolan books are a great option, based on the most recent addition. Having read the Monkeewrench series that was written by the mother-daughter team before mother's passing, I am glad to see that this series' books are as good as they were.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the digital ARC of The Devil You Know. The opinions in this review are my own.

This tale of death is all about the characters, lushly told and styled to fit the rich culture in Los Angeles. Each is defined by their past and current relationships. There is action to the story, but it definitely is sidelined by who’s who. The language is a bit too overblown for my taste, sort of like the people it describes.

Seth Lehman, agent to beloved Disney star Evan Hobbes, is looking for his pants when his phone blares a warning this Saturday morning. Someone has produced a pornographic video of Hobbes doing hideous things. Clearly a deepfake, Seth must perform damage control. Seth worked for Rebecca Wodehouse at the snobby agency that he always meant to leave, and knew she’d be all over him to clear this up.

Most of LA is awakened on Sunday morning by an earthquake that sent a hilltop down onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner Al Crawford meet the coroner and criminalistics at the scene, since Evan’s body spilled down with the hillside from the home of Essie Baum, sister to Seth Lehman, where she’d hosted a large party the night before that included Evan and Seth as guests. That morning finds Seth buying caviar for his paramour of the night, Daphna Love, whom he’d convinced to change agents to him at his new agency, as soon as he quit Becca. Little did Seth know he would be called on by Essie for help in dealing with Evan’s death. Intertwined with doing so, Seth and Daphna decide to marry.

Nolan had noted some marks on Evan’s neck that might have indicated murder. His broken and battered body from the fall down the cliff would need to be analyzed to determine murder, accident, or even suicide. After the bombshell of the deepfake the day before, any were possible. In the meantime, Essie can’t seem to find her husband David, the top Disney exec who’d been unfaithful many, many times. It’s a shock when he’s found at their Malibu home shot to death with a young woman carrying a thumb drive full of photos of girls with David, and Evan Hobbes. Essie is having a meltdown while drugs and alcohol flow. David’s computer is missing, so Maggie Nolan is dealing with cybercrimes as well. Now we wonder if that deepfake really was fake and if so who made it and who paid for it.

Another storyline about an Afghanistan war vet with PTSD is interwoven with the Hobbes/Baum story, but it doesn’t go anywhere and seems superfluous. It may simply pay homage to the series to which this is the third entry. All the action takes place over a long weekend and ends quite abruptly with the revelation of the killer’s identity, which is not really a surprise. Or perhaps by then, I really didn’t care who killed whom; I just wanted the story to be over.

I have read and really enjoyed every book in this author’s Monkeewrench series, but I am having a difficult time with this one. The first book was good, but the second and especially this third one seemed to ramble on, introducing character after character. I was at 35% and still not sure who and how many people were killed in the beginning of the book and by that time there was another possible murder. I make notes when I review a book and the list of characters continued to grow with no idea if they would be important to the plot. I did enjoy Margaret’s inner thoughts while she interacted with various people. I was waiting for the entire case to be “wrapped” up, but that didn’t seem to happen, although there was an interesting twist at the end. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

This book was well written and kept me entertained throughout. I love the detective mystery of it. And I didn't guess the ending which is always great. However, I didn't know it was #3 in a series. Since I missed out on the first two books, There were points when I felt a little out of the loop or unsure about past events or relationships.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story begins with a double killing. Later, Maggie and her partner, Nolan, are called to the discovery of a body on the PCH as a result of a landslide. As they begin looking into it they are not able to make a call whether it was an accident or a homicide. The accident happened at a party where high society people were and where the victim was being conso;ed for the impact of a deepfake video that someone posted on social media. The victim's agent sister was the one who gave the party. Maggie and Nolan went to the location of the party to try and learn what they could. The scene was scoured by the police and there were some items that were discovered which might prove helpful. Not known at the time to Maggie was the fact that the agent's boss made a remark that they needed to cut Evan loose. Evan was the person who was the victim and also the one that had a video released by an unknown party.

As they were investigating, another incident happened to the husband of the agent's sister. This is where the opening story of the double murder came into play. Maggie and her partner followed up even though this happened outside of their jurisdiction. The husband was a high placed party at a movie studio so Maggie thought there might be a connection.

The agent Seth Lehman was with the victim at the party and while there he met an old friend from his teenage years and they got reacquainted . Read more to discover how the couple worked out.
The steps that Maggie and her partner took in solving the two cases as well as what other people contributed was quite interesting. The ending is one that you won't expect.