Margaret Nolan and her partner Al Crawford find themselves investigating a possible murder that takes them into the tangled rarified air of celebrity in Hollywood. Actor and heartthrob Evan Hobbes had his career and his life ruined when videos surface showing him taking part in child porn. When his body is found at the bottom of a mudslide on the Pacific Coast Highway, it could be suicide. But Margaret and Al need to investigate.

The more they learn, the more tangled the case becomes. And Evan's isn't the only death. He was attending a party at Essie Baum's. She's the wife of David Baum who's the head of Disney, the studio Evan works for. Then David's body and that of a young actress are found dead at one of his other homes.

Essie's brother and Evan's agent Seth Lehman is also murdered which ruins one of Margaret and Al's theories about what happened to Evan.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints including Seth's and was an intriguing and twisty thriller where we really got to learn a lot about what each of the characters was thinking and doing, Once I got into the style of the writing, I really enjoyed it.

I loved the plot, the writing style is awesome and full of POV’s from all angles, it’s easy to get lost in that. It’s not a full on standalone, so it was confusing for me when it came to connecting with the main characters in this book. It wasn’t for me though.

P. J. Tracy returns with the third installment in the Detective Margaret Nolan series with THE DEVIL YOU KNOW —where the author explores the underbelly of the Los Angeles area in her latest cop procedural with its celebrities, power, wealth, glitz, and glamour. Good versus evil.

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan's latest case takes her to Hollywood to investigate the death of a well-known privileged actor Evan Hobbes.

A Disney actor is “filmed” in a compromising video, but it would appear that it’s a deep fake. Then before anything can be done, his dead body is found in a landslide.

Hobbes is found dead amidst the debris and rubble of a rock slide in Malibu after a fake video (having sex with a minor) was released to ruin his career and reputation. Hobbes had been among hundreds of well-heeled guests celebrating at a lavish party on the Baum estate.

Was it an accident, suicide, or murder?

The investigation expands to Evan's friends, family, and coworkers as police follow the baffling clues in the case. Those who attended parties and were closely associated were many.

Maggie Nolan is used to working cases for not only the rich and glitzy actors but the homeless and destitute. Nolan and Detective Crawford find connections to the wealthy and privileged in LA, Hollywood, and Santa Barbara, whose lives intersect and intertwine in shocking ways.

(I love Santa Barbara and Ojai and enjoyed my extended visit there- beautiful!).

Meanwhile, Hobbes’ agent is dealing with damage control, his psychotic boss, and a woman he has scorned.

When his powerful brother-in-law is murdered, he and Nolan both find themselves entangled in a scandalous deception of deadly proportion that shakes the very foundation of Hollywood’s rich and famous.

Tracy keeps the reader guessing in this twisty fast-paced, complex cop procedural with a large cast of characters (you will need to keep a scorecard) as the bodies pile up. An intriguing murder whodunit mystery with unexpected twists for a satisfying conclusion.

Nolan is a likable, intelligent, strong, and capable female protagonist, and would like to have heard more from her and her partner and their personal lives.

Her descriptions of the area are vivid and will draw you in. Short chapters keep the action moving and there is a storyline dealing with Sam (army vet and a letter) —PTSD, grief, and the loss of a family member, which adds a personal balance to the crime investigation. He is a friend of the detective, a troubled Afghan War vet who suffers from PTSD.

I also enjoyed the Author's Note regarding her inspiration, where she drew from her family (grandfather/cousin) and PTSD in relation to Sam Easton's character.

This book is part of the Detective Margaret Nolan Series—Desolation Canyon and Deep into the Dark. My first book in the series. It can be read as a standalone. However, I plan on picking up the audiobooks to listen to the previous ones in the series. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous two books.

Thanks to #MinatourBooks and #NetGalley for a gifted e-book ARC.

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Pub Date: Jan 17, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
Jan 2023 Must-Read Books

I have been reading PJ Tracy’s books since I received a galley of the first book, Monkeewrench. I still have that galley and every other book penned by PJ Tracy.I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all and The Devil you Know is no exception. With deep, complex primary characters like Maggie Nolan to guide the way, the reader embarks on a twisty ride while Maggie and her partner work to solve several murders- the first of an up-and-coming actor and a washed out starlet,and then a third one, an unexpected death . There are many suspects to choose from, and as Maggie works the case and explores the possibilities, we can’t help but become personally involved with how Maggie is doing.
As always, expert craftsmanship goes into the making of The Devil You Know and asareader and long time fan, I fully appreciate it and eagerly anticipate the next one…

I was expecting more of a police/ detective procedural story. It seemed the detectives were an after thought.
The story was a bit twisted and I was surprised by the ending.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

The Devil You Know is the third in the series featuring Margaret Nolan. At first, it’s not even clear whether her case is really a case. When Evan Hobbes body is found in the rubble after a minor rockslide, his death could be an accident, murder, or suicide. After all, the day before he was the victim of a deep fake video creating the impression he was a pedophile and ruining his Disney film career.

Like her two previous Nolan mysteries, there are several other characters to follow. Hobbes agent leverages his relationship to his sister’s husband, a big producer, to forward his career. But things are falling apart. The inter-connecting relationships seem authentic, but are also part of Tracy’s way of writing. This series and the previous Monkeewrench series.

The Devil You Know is a good mystery, but I felt distracted by subplots that could wait for another book such as whether or not a colleague goes to New Orleans or not. While the solution made sense and fit the character of the victims, the foundation was not as well-laid as it could have been. I don’t believe all characters in a series need to show up in every book in the series, if they are not active in the progress of the plot, let them fallow for a book or two.

The Devil You Know will be released on January 17th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Devil You Know at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
P. J. Tracy author site

What a read. This book grabbed me and no matter what I needed to do, I could not put it down. It moves along at a pace that makes for an enjoyable and thrilling read. The characters are amazing and no matter what they have to do you cannot help but love them and you want to be there for them. This is a book that needs to be read and on your list of books for 2023, no doubt about it.

The Devil You Know, a novel by PJ Tracy, is full of promise that all the Hollywood snarkiness and insider info the author must have to tell will be revealed. The promise is not fulfilled, at least for this reader who was underwhelmed at the story. I submit that there is not a likable character in the novel. Once I realized that satisfaction was not coming, I persevered anyway! Surely it will all come together! But no, it is at best a mildly interesting read.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

The third satisfying entry in the Detective Margaret Nolan series is an intriguing, action-packed police procedural. There are a lot of characters and it's best to read the books in order to have a familiarity with the characters.

Positive - awesome part - the epilogue! That threw me for a loop. This is 3 in a series as duly noted here on good reads, but was not stated on NetGalley. I feel like book 1 and 2 have to be read to be able to follow some of this twisty tale. The negative for me, so many characters, plots, subplots that I needed a cheat sheet for each time I got lost. As a reader I have to take some of the responsibility for or "failure to communicate" so to speak. I think Sam, our vet with PTSD (who was not in a lot of this book) was my favorite. If you enjoy police procedurals that are thick with twists and multiple characters and plots, this is the book for you. Thank you for the arc! I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #thedevilyouknow #detectivemargaretnolan #pjtracy #stmartinspress #netgalley

This is the first book I have read by the author and it will not be the last. Some of the other reviews state that it is hard to read this book without reading the prior two books in the series. While I would say it would be nice to have read those previously to understand some of the backstory, I do not think it is a requirement to enjoy this book. I really enjoyed all of the different point of views since I enjoy that type of writing style. I hope there is a fourth book in this series. Well done!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book for my honest review.

This was my first book by this author. I liked the mystery part of the story. I had a hard time following the characters because there were so many different stories going on. I think I was at a disadvantage because it's book 3 in a series. Also, the author uses a lot of fancy words that sometimes I couldn't even figure out what the meaning was, which made it harder to read. It was just ok.

The Devil You Know is the third installment of the Detective Margaret Nolan series. The plot and character development are solid as I have come to expect of author P.J. Tracy. In reading other reviews a few folks mentioned that LA, where the novel takes place, is a main character and I agree with that statement. I think I’m tiring of the LA scene which is just my personal preference. All in all a good read, I highly recommend et this series.

**Thank you NetGalley for an electronic ARC, I enjoyed the opportunity to review this novel.

This was a good read but being book 3 in a series, I think you definitely need to read the first two to get a better understanding and connection. I didn’t know that when I first read it but I wish I did lol there were a lot of characters and relationships already established and it would have been nice to read the prior books. Overall it wasn’t bad, I might go back and read the first two.

This was the first book of the series that I’d read and I think it would have been better if I had read the others in the series first. There are many references to what must have taken place in a previous book, but they weren’t fully introduced in a way that gave me a feeling for the characters and what happened to them. The other thing I found to be difficult were how many characters were introduced during the first several chapters. At first the characters and events seemed to be totally unrelated. I found it to be disjointed. It wasn’t until well into the book that connections were made.
The book held my interest as I put clues together for the “Whodunit Reveal”. #TheDevilYouKnow #netgalley

I’m so sorry, this is another one that just didn’t do it for me. I cannot bring myself to vibe with the main character Margaret, and I also just didn’t vibe with the writing style. Also WHY ARE THERE SO MANY POV CHARACTERS that was absolutely not a positive in ASOIAF why are we trying to emulate it??

Thank you Netgalley & Minotaur for the ARC. My New Year’s resolution is to be more selective in the ARCs I request.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Press, and P.J. Tracy for an advance copy of The Devil You Know in exchange for an honest review. When I first started this one, I didnt realize it was the 3rd book in the series so I was honestly a little bit lost with some of the names. With that being said, after awhile and some careful thought, I was able to understand how the characters were all connected. I enjoyed the many POVs throughout the story, as it made it the murder a fun puzzle to try to solve while reading. I was happy with the ending and how it all was tied together. I wish I would have gotten to know some of the supporting characters a bit more but that didnt take away from my overall enjoyment of this book. This one is out 1.17.23 and I look forward to checking out the first two books in this series soon!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for GR!

Darkness is nothing new to LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, but in P.J. Tracy’s The Devil You Know, even she isn’t prepared for the scandalous deception of deadly proportions that shakes the very foundation of Hollywood and its untouchables…and leaves her entangled in its rotten core. This is the third in the Maggie Nolan series and my favorite so far. I love everything this writing team has done in the past but really enjoy this series that is written alone by Tracy. This can read as a stand-alone but for some good background info I recommend the first two books in the series. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

While this was a good detective story, it was really confusing if you didn’t read the books prior to this one in the series. Because of this, I kept getting lost. So do yourself a favor, and start from the first book. Don’t be ridiculous like me. Lol!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: January 17, 2023
The body of actor Evan Hobbes is found in a pile of rubble after an exclusive party in Los Angeles. Although the death is considered accidental, Detective Margaret Nolan has an inkling that something isn’t right and Nolan’s hunch is confirmed when friends of Hobbes start turning up dead. Nolan and her partner must investigate the rich and famous of Hollywood’s elite, navigating the celebrity social scene in order to find out who would kill Evan, and why.
“The Devil You Know” is the third installment in the Detective Margaret Nolan series, by author P.J. Tracy (a pseudonym for mother-daughter writing pair P.J and Traci Lambrecht). This was my first foray into both Tracy’s work and the Nolan series, and “Devil” is definitely one of those novels where you should read the other two novels first, as it can be quite confusing for a first timer, due to the abundance of characters. There are multiple POV’s, besides Margaret’s (including friends and coworkers of Margaret) which makes for a pretty impressive headcount. It was easy enough to follow the plot though, and to keep track of the big players, which made for an easier-than-expected read.
This is a police procedural from start to finish, so details of the police investigation (across two departments) and all of the involved agencies and agents are represented, which is typical in this genre. The language isn’t thick with lingo or jargon, though, and I really enjoyed delving into the investigation alongside Maggie and her team.
The plot was fast-paced and I was invested enough in the characters to continue reading through to the end, even though some elements confused me (due to their presence in previous novels I have not read). Murder among the Hollywood elite? Why, yes please.
The ending of this novel was what I expected, although there was a nice twist that added the element of surprise. Tracy can craft an elegant, creative novel with an action-packed plot, and I would be interested in reading the other two novels in the series, and anything that comes after. I really enjoyed Nolan as the lead character, and I look forward to seeing her again.