Entertaining mystery with murder, intrigue, and some surprising twists and turns. I really enjoyed the female main character being the lead detective in the story, but there were a few too many extra characters that caused me some confusion at times.

This is book 3 in the series, and I kind of wish I had started from the first book instead of with this book as I felt I missed some important bits. That's just my opinion though. Other readers may be just fine.
3.5 stars rounded to 4

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Summary: When actor Evan Hobbes is found murdered, LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is called upon to solve the case. Unfortunately, Hobbes is not the only one dead. While trying to make sense of this crime, Nolan faces a reality uncommon to her in the glitzy side of the city.

💭This is the third book in this series, and it was not my favorite. There were so many subplots and characters to keep track of that it was confusing. I also found myself not caring enough about the characters or the plot. Margaret Nolan has promise as a lead character, but she gets lost in the disjointedness of the plot. I really love police procedural with female leads, but this series falls short for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc of this book.
However, I'm finding it difficult to write an unbiased review of it, because when I requested it, I didn't realize it was the 3rd book in a series and not a stand-alone. I think my review would be 4 stars instead of 3 had I read the first 2 books in the series, but at this point who know?
When I first started reading the book, my initial impression was that there were too many characters being introduced to keep track of that seemed unrelated, but eventually I figured out that this was because I was supposed to already be familiar with some of them. It continued to bother me throughout the book that Sam's storyline wasn't related at all to the main plot of the book and he really just seemed to be included in this book in order to set him up for future books. I wish everything with him would have just been cut out, and this book certainly wouldn't have missed anything from that, but again, who knows if I would have felt that way if I was already familiar with him.
Other than that, I liked the main storyline and the other characters a lot more, at least right up till the end. The ending felt a little weak to me, and although I appreciated the info. from the epilogue, I had already guessed it at that point, and I didn't really want to hear from that character's POV since we hadn't previously in the book, so I wish the info. would have been confirmed in a more salient way. More info. from the main case and the main murder's POV would have been more interesting to me.

PJ Tracy writes a crime thriller that will keep you engaged in the story. The main character is Detective Leo Magozzi who is investigating a series of really gruesome murders. He navigates suspects and clues in an effort to capture the killer before they strike again. The personal lives and relationships of the characters in this book add to the dimension of the story. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep the reader engaged and increase the level of suspense. The author does a great job of describing the setting throughout also. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a new author to me I was excited to give it a read. The Devil You Know is book 3 in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. I read it as a stand-alone. The body of actor Evan Hobbes is found in the rubble of a Malibu rockslide a day after a fake video threatens to ruin his career. It’s not clear to Detective Margaret Nolan whether it’s an accident, a suicide, or a murder. Then the bodies of the powerful brother-in-law of Hobbes's agent and an unknown starlet are found together. Connected??? The key to a strong police procedural is to keep the crime at the center of the narrative and build from there. P.J. Tracy does that well, adding her own flavoring with characters and setting development. Plot twists throughout keep the reader guessing, which permits things to be less than predictive. I appreciated this, as well as shorter chapters, which propelled the story forward. The shorter chapters remind me of James Patterson. The writing was very smooth and I really liked Margaret Nolan as a character as well as her partner Detective Al Crawford. Some of the Hollywood characters were also quite quirky and well fleshed out. L.A. is as much a character as the humans in this story. The earthquakes, ocean vistas and high end real estate. There are also a host of characters, mostly mentally unstable. It’s not a flattering portrait of the Hollywood set, it did make for an interesting mystery. Nolan and Al have their work cut out for them, especially as the body count rises. There’s also a side story concerning Sam which has nothing to do with the mystery and appears to just be a method of keeping him as part of the story. There are lots of moving parts here which demand the reader pay attention., there was a twist I didn’t see coming. It didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, P.J. Tracy, and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this publication.

Let me start off my saying, when I started this book I had no idea it was book three in a series. With that being said, overall I really enjoyed this book. Would I recommend starting in the middle of this series, no I would not. It was a little difficult to keep up with the characters since I had no introduction or recap of who they were.

But overall, the crime mystery aspect kept me going with this book. I love a book with a strong lead female detective. Some trigger warnings would have been nice for this book also. This is what dropped my rating from 4 to 3 stars. But overall a pretty decent book.

I didn't realize this was the third book in the series and that may be why I was overwhelmed by the number of characters, way too many in my opinion. The author did a pretty good job of some back story, so I wasn't completely lost, but there were times I was frustrated. The main character, LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, was interesting and this made me want to read more books to see where she goes with her fictional life. Her partner, Al Crawford, was a great foil for Nolan although I feel like I don't know much about him other than he's a great partner. This book delves into Hollywood life that hope is very fictional because ugh, and of course I think all the murder is, but the characters in this book were messed up. I feel like this book had two sides, Nolan and cop work, and the seedy rich Hollywood types. After reading too much of this book at a time because of the seedy side and the psychology of the characters made me feel like I needed a shower. I didn't feel that way about Nolan, other cops or their friends. Overall, this is was a good book. I did know who the killer was pretty early on in the book, but the author did spring a twist at the end, that I wasn't expecting. I will definitely read the next book in the series. I want to know what will happen with Remy Boudreau too.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC to me for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I was unfamiliar with this series, so I started with this one, the third book, I believe. The story seemed to read fine as a standalone, but I do prefer to start from the beginning so I'm sure I missed some stuff, like character relationship backgrounds and histories. I enjoyed the main character of Maggie Nolan, an LAPD Detective investigating the death of a popular actor. LOTS of whacko's on the suspect list! Seems like it would be a good series and I do plan to go back and read the others. I think it's a great story for both suspense lovers and those who enjoy seeing behind the Hollywood curtain.

Thank you to #NetGalley, P. J. Tracy and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Very entertaining murder mystery with some equally surprising plot twists! There were a few moments where I got so turned around with the characters, I had to back track some of the story. This may have been part of the magic from the writer though. Constantly keeping the reader on their toes. I would definitely pick up another read by this author

Another excellent Margaret Nolan mystery. It has so many twists and turns that I did not figure out the culprit in the end. Hollywood is a fascinating place and this story goes behind the scenes of the rich and famous.

I want to thank NetGalley for the free arc for my honest review. It was the first book I have read by P.J. Tracy and it will not be the last. The Detective is Margaret Nolan and it is obvious that she is a very busy as a well-respected detective. She has many contacts and each character brings a new angle to the story. A man's body is found, but how did he die? Was it the rock slide, or a murder. There are many characters and the book delves down many paths. There was nothing new but it held your attention.

Although this has a good premise and interesting characters, it takes too long to get going and is a bit too complicated for its own good. It actually might have worked better as a stand-alone, where series elements wouldn't bog things down.

This book was amazing! I couldn’t put it down. Absolutely terrifying and thrilling at the same time. One of my favorite books!!

Interesting characters. Well written mystery. Loved the Hollywood aspects. Definitely would try more from this series.

A couple of years ago, I picked up one of P. J. Nolan’s books that was part of the Monkeewrench series which I thought was pretty good. I liked Nolan’s writing style and thought the series was fast paced with a to to enjoy. I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series before and I felt mostly orientated in the series and that it could have been read as a standalone novel without issue. P. J. Nolan is a pseudonym for a mother-daughter writing duo and while sometimes it can be hard with two writers, writing one book, I think in this case it was seamless.

Nolan has been an established author with a large fan base, especially surrounding the Monkeewrench series which is ten books in. I love that they have branched out into a new series featuring Margaret Nolan. While this book is part of a series, I think that Nolan does a great job orientating readers within the story and from the early reviews, most feel that this can also be read as a standalone.

For me the thing that grabbed me about this one was the mix of grit (murder) and glamour (Los Angeles). For me I get a very noir feeling from this book summary. LA has long been associated with glitz and glamour, and this book features the murder of a celebrity. When that world of glitz and glamour comes together to meet with a disturbing homicide, I think it gives the reader a sense of unease which is ripe for a thriller. I love when I am caught off guard and hooked on a story that has this contrasting image of glamour and murder. I think a lot of readers and fans of thrillers/mysteries will find a lot to enjoy in this one, especially under the pen of two talented and proven authors!

Summary

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan returns in The Devil You Know, the next book in the series where P. J. Tracy “seems to have found her literary sweet spot” (New York Times Book Review).

Los Angeles has many faces: the real LA where regular people live and work, the degenerate underbelly of any big city, and the rarified world of wealth, power, and celebrity. LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan’s latest case plunges her into this insular realm of privilege, and gives her a glimpse of the darkness behind the glitter.

The body of 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’ agent is dealing with damage control, his psychotic boss, and a woman he’s scorned. But 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 untouchables. (summary from Goodreads)

Review

This book defiantly had the noir feeling I was expecting from the summary. I love a good noir film and I think this book does a good job at capturing that general feeling of unease and the grit which is the hallmark of noir films and books. I will say this book did have a lot of characters to keep track of. It was a bit distracting at times and I had to stop and think about where we were at in the plot with the characters etc. I wish they had written less characters and focused more on developing the stronger characters and plot points so that.I could really focus on the story rather than trying to keep track of all the characters.

I expected the author to take some time to orientate new readers within the series since this is the third book. While the author did a good job with the mystery being more of a standalone, I think the relationships with some of the characters were already established in previous books which made it a little hard to track not only the amount of characters, but also their relationships to one another. For that reason I would suggest maybe reading the other books in the series first. But as far as the mystery itself, I felt the mystery could have stood alone. I really liked the vibe and feel of this book and the mystery itself could have been even more compelling had I felt more of a connection to the characters and understood their relationships better.

The setting and mystery itself were complicated and not just because there were a lot of characters. Readers will be kept on their toes trying to figure this one out! There were a lot of twists and turns in new directions, this was definitely not a book that I could do on auto pilot. It felt like a smart mystery and had some police procedural elements that I enjoyed too. I didn’t feel like the mystery was wanting, for me it was more how things, characters and past events all related to one another. I liked this book and enjoyed my time with it, but I didn’t love it in the way that I think I would have if I had read a couple of the other books in the series.

Book Info and Rating

Format 304 pages, Hardcover

Published January 17, 2023 by Minotaur Books

ISBN 9781250859945 (ISBN10: 1250859948)

Free review copy provided by publisher, Minotaur Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: mystery, thriller

This was my first book in the Maggie Nolan series, but it works great as a standalone. I will definitely be going back to read the other books in the series.

This was a page-turner for me. I loved the characters and the hollywood mystery was very well done. Just as the reader feels that they have found the motive and the killer you are surprised with another twist in the plot.

An excellent read with an explosive ending.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press . I was given an ARC for my review and all comments are my own.

This is book 3 in the Detective Margaret Nolan Series. Normally, I don’t have many issues reading a book in a series out of order, you can pretty much figure out what is going on.

That was not the case with this book. I think it was because rather than characters being introduced as they interacted with the main character, they entered the story with their own chapter. So, all of sudden, a new character appeared with no connection to what you were just reading. You had to try and figure out who they were and what were they doing in the story. It made it a little frustrating for a person coming into the series, I’m sure it was fine for people who had read the first two books.

The other issue I had was the vocabulary. I consider myself fairly well educated and well read, but I spent a lot of time looking up words on the Kindle.

Even with the confusing characters and confusing words, I found the storyline interesting. The plot and mystery were easy to follow. Plenty of clues to track down what happened. I received an ARC of the book.

The Devil You Know by PJ Tracy is the third installment in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. Once again, PJ Tracy does not disappoint. This is another twisted case that Nolan gets involved in. Each book in this series advances the character and relationships more and I really enjoy that. Please make sure to read the other two books before this one to get the best understanding of the characters. I highly recommend this series especially if you like mysteries set in LA/Hollywood. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Suspenseful, captivating and oh so good! I read this as a standalone and still think it was an easy 5 stars!!

I love Hollywood stories so I enjoyed this book. The overall story was slow and a little hard to get into but overall it was interesting.. this was my first book by PJ Tracy and I did not have any problems following along with the plot.