Korean-American Siobhan O'Brien is a private investigator, recently in possesion of the investigation business, in the first of this detective series. I loved the character development of the protagonist in this novel, but the mystery plot was not upto the mark at all. Siobhan's case is to find a missing girl, which leads her to scandalous underground buisness in a high profile educational institution. Further clues lead Siobhan to a bizzare cult society, and the plot was handled too immaturely for my liking. It's Siobhan's professional journey of coming into her own as a lead (and only) investigator of her firm, and her personal journey too, which make me hopeful that the coming up books in the series can be satisfactory ones, provided the mystery plot is well taken care of.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for a free copy of this novel. My review is unbiased and a reflection of my reading experience.

Skin Deep is a fun PI mystery, reminiscent of a mix between Veronica Mars and Murder, She Wrote (which is even mentioned in the book). Our protagonist often makes comments on her age in comparison to the College students, which, along with her internal misogyny, is an interesting character choice, particularly for a case involving students and commentary on the media's obsession with women remaining young. However, I am looking forward to seeing her character development throughout book 2.

Additionally, the book weaves in so many important discussions surrounding race, adoption, and how lonely being away from one's mother country can feel. Throughout Skin Deep, Siobhan O'Brien repeatedly explains her name as she receives raised eyebrows everywhere she goes. I cannot even imagine how tiring this would be for someone simply trying to exist and go about their daily life.

Meet Siobhan O'Brien, a feisty, thoughtful, and clever PI. Life is good, perhaps even comfortable, until her boss leaves this earth and leaves her the company.

Uncertain what to do, in the middle of trying to think it all through, an old friend asks for help.
Her daughter is missing.

While reading through the first chapters, I am snickering. This is fresh. It feels refreshing. The style used by the author letting us know Siobhan... Yes... I like this.😊

It does not stop there. The turns this book takes, gosh, I can barely comprehend, my lovelies. Who would DO that?

🔹️
'Got some duck poop for you.'
🔹️

I also really like the descriptions, oh so descriptive, of the situations we find ourselves in.
I have seen out there that some want more... let us call it.. mature women... our main character has passed 40.😄

So, to sum it up. I really like it, it is a mystery to be solved, the main character is, to me, really likeable, and the book is still funny!

Can you solve this before Siobhan does?

Skin Deep is the first in a series by Sung J Woo and follows Korean-American adoptee Siobhan O'Brien as she takes over a small private detective agency. An old friend hires her to investigate the disappearance of her daughter from her college.

The college recently became co-ed, thanks to the newly appointed dean, but there's something suspicious happening at a new science building that is constantly under surveillance...

The author gives us a view of Siobhan's life, her Korean heritage and navigating society as an American citizen.

I enjoyed Siobhan's investigation unfolding, how her main objective was intertwined with something much greater. The plot shines a light over the lengths that people will go to achieve beauty, and how money and power plays into things.

I loved the unique cast of characters involved and the ways in which their paths crossed. There was some real clever writing in this book, especially the 'mystery' and how the author has you piecing things together throughout. The ending has been left open for the next instalment in the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing Siobhan continue to learn and grow in her next story.

I would recommend this if you like books with cozy mystery vibes.

4.5 stars
"An investigation is a living, breathing thing. Go with what happens, because what happens then is what was always supposed to happen." (Ch 53)

The main character, Siobhan, is a 40 year old transracial adoptee, she’s Korean, and her adoptive parents are American-Irish and Nordic. She's an apprentice to a private detective. His agency is left to her when he passes away suddenly. On her own now, her first case just happens to be the sister of her late best friend, pleading for her to investigate the disappearance of her daughter. Subsequently, her daughter is also a Korean born adoptee. As she looks further into the case, there is more to it than initially thought. A side-case, possibly interconnected, is thrown her way, and it might have dangerous ties. She goes in deeper and deeper with every twist and turn.

"....every adoptee leads two lives, the one that is and the one that could have been." (Ch 31)

Love the delve into the struggle of identity and acceptance. I'm of mixed nationalities and can roundaboutly relate to those struggles. It was rough growing up feeling like you're floundering and not quite sure where and with whom you belong. Along the way, I was mistaken for different nationalities, depending on where I lived - Mexican in California, Korean in Texas, half white/black in North Carolina... though I am none of those. For the longest time, in my youth, I wanted to ignore the Asian side of myself. I embrace all of me now, though! But back to the story... it was refreshing and enlightening, yet sad at the same time to read this part.

Siobhan's tentative romance was sweet, too!

Sung's writing is entertaining and interesting without any heaviness or intellectual exhaustion. The characters are diverse, relatable, and seemingly genuine. I don't read nearly enough of this genre. I might need to after this one!

Thanks to Datura for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I haven't read many contemporary books featuring a PI, and I appreciated that it was very much the MC's job to pursue this mystery (despite the self-identified scope creep). I also enjoyed the realistic approach to college students, who are pretty uniformly behind on their homework. Overall an engaging read and an enjoyable MC.

Slightly spoilery (but pretty early in the book): how could she afford to enroll for classes? I would have appreciated some explanation - does the program she's in come with a scholarship? Is she auditing and thus paying reduced fees?

Content warnings: misogyny, body shaming, homophobia, suicide attempt (mentioned, not depicted)

I enjoyed this mystery novel so much that on finishing reading, I immediately purchased a copy of the sequel so that I could read more of Siobhan O’Brien straight away!

Skin Deep has absolutely everything I look for in a mystery story – an interesting main character with some fun or mysterious side characters surrounding her; a well-constructed plot that isn’t too far-fetched or too easy to guess; and something that makes it stand out from the crowd – in this case, both the middle-aged rookie P.I. main character with her mixed heritage roots and a mystery that takes us from university to wellness centre with a little hazing thrown in along the way.

I found Siobhan O’Brien engaging as a main character. She reminded me a little of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone in her careful, diligent following of leads (although thankfully with less paperwork/admin involved!), but the author also brings a humour and playfulness to the character and dialogue which I really enjoyed. Not only does it help to lighten the tone generally, the wit and warmth really made me feel like I knew the characters and cared about what happened to them.

In fact, the only bone I have to pick with the author is that I have finished the sequel now and there are no more books for me to run out and purchase this weekend! I’ve had to satisfy myself with following so I will be notified as soon as the next book is released.

Skin Deep has a lot of things I enjoy and yet, and yet, I am deeply, intensely conflicted about it. As a mystery it has all the fun and drama you might want, with an interesting protagonist and solid side characters. However, there are certain aspects of the main mystery I didn't feel were handled well, which affected by entire reading experience. Thanks to Datura Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To get the big thing out of the way first: there is a certain element of the mystery Siobhan needs to solve that, in my opinion, is handled in a way that is utterly irresponsible, especially in this day and age. I am going to discuss it here, so spoilers, although I'll attempt to be a little vague. Do skip to the next paragraph if you don't want any spoilers, but for those whose triggers may include female reproductive health issues, perhaps consider reading. Siobhan is asked to look for her friend's daughter, Penny, who has gone missing from university. Along the way, she ends up entangled in all kinds of other drama which is somewhat tangentially related. This latter drama, in my opinion, takes away the focus from Penny. I found this a little egregious, considering the things that are later revealed to have happened to her, which is almost treated like an afterthought. Skin Deep here plays with the tension surrounding elements of abortion and all kinds of conspiracy theories that play into it and I was legitimately a little shocked when this came up in an otherwise low-key cozy detective novel. Now, it's not that I am against these things being discussed. In fact, I think it is very important that they are discussed in a variety of different forums. Here, however, it is presented as a little shiny element of Shock and Horror and then just as casually set aside. In the current political climate in the US, I felt that this was a little irresponsible and unnuanced. Of course I don't know what kind of conversations took place about this behind the scenes, but it solidly affected my otherwise positive experience with the book.

Siobhan O'Brien finds herself at a crossroads. She has been left her boss' private detective company and isn't entirely sure if she is ready to run it all by herself. Enter the little sister of a childhood friend, who she had met at a summer camp for other Korean-born adoptees. Her daughter, Penny, herself adopted from Korea, has gone missing from university. Despite herself, Siobhan accepts the case and begins exploring the campus of Llewelyn College. There is more to this case than a young woman going no-contact with a slightly overbearing mother. The campus of Llewelyn College is in the midst of major changes and Penny's disappearance seems to be related. As Siobhan detects, more and more strange things occur which all seem to tangle around the college's president, a yoga retreat, and a super-wealthy Korean family. Reviewer Matthew Galloway described this book as "cozy-noir" on Goodreads and I think that is the perfect descriptor for it. It has the brooding and conflicted detective behind their big desk, the on-the-fly thinking, dark buildings with dark pasts, etc., but it is all covered in a slightly goofy and soothing sauce. Siobhan's interior monologue is very Millennial in a way I can't entirely put my finger on, but it's quite dry and sarcastic while also being empathetic. I really liked her as the protagonist and think I would've enjoyed following her on more mysteries, were it not for the above which made me feel icky.

I haven't read anything by Sung J. Woo before, but I did enjoy much of the atmosphere he created in this book. Siobhan is fun as a main character and because of this also makes the whole detective work seem quite fun. I like that she is not some ingenue just stumbling across a case but rather someone who has studied and paid attention, meaning that it makes sense she would solve a case. However, the case itself is a bit all over the place. As I mentioned above, it begins with Penny being missing but then spirals higher and higher until it loses much of its shape and proportion. Now, detective mysteries do not need to be realistic to be fun or good or both. But if I need to so utterly and entirely suspend my disbelief that I begin appreciating billionaires then something has gone wrong for me. This might not be an issue for other readers, who'll enjoy the hijinks across campus, but for me it somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. Also, while Siobhan is a solid protagonist, other characters felt quite two-dimensional by design. I appreciate that mysteries have their stock characters, but even where there was an attempt to add some background and flesh to them, it was delivered in such a direct way that it didn't feel entirely natural. All of this might sound very critical and yet I did have a lot of fun with at least the first half of the book. I really enjoyed Siobhan's inner monologue and some of the tensions Woo set up within her arc. I also liked the initial mystery and its expansion into campus drama. But especially the last third pushed this into territory that felt underdeveloped and not fully thought out. I might pick up future Siobhan O'Brien mysteries, but I'm not entirely sure yet.

In my rating I've tried to be fair both to the fact that I enjoyed much of Skin Deep and to the fact that I had serious issues with some of its focus. I'm in two minds about it, still, and don't know if I'll continue the series.

My love affair with cosy crime continues with this fabulously new series. Featuring an older FMC, with a name that causes questions wherever she goes, a self-aware and self-deprecating attitude and a gentle potential romance lurking in the shadows!

I love Siobhan's attitude to life. She is well aware of her limitations, her lack of progress in the "relationship" field, and her self-esteem could do with a little lift. But she found a home with her PI mentor and after his death she's all at sea and not sure where her life is going. Until a former friend breezes into her life once more, asking for her to track down her wayward daughter. Siobhan feels a strong affinity with this newer generation of transracial adoptee and soon finds herself up to her neck in dodgy university politics and the cosmetics world.

Siobhan is a breath of fresh air. She's not the boiled hack of a crime noir, the amateur of an Agatha Christie or a bumbling fool. She's an older newbie, still finding her feet in the PI world but with a good relationship with her local PD )always a smart move!) and a friendly neighbourhood lawyer to keep her out of too much trouble.

I loved learning more about the transracial adoption journey her family went through, learning about his similarly misnamed brother Sven and her loving but definitely cracked family! Cultural identity is only one of the secondary themes in the book and I loved watching the reactions to her name (like have people never heard of adoption, interracial marriage, etc). I would love to meet the extended O'Brien family in further books and I'm really hoping that the sweetest, life after forty romance between Siobhan and Craig finally grows some legs - once Craig has made it through some more therapy and decluttering!

Skin Deep is a funny and quirky twist on the typical cozy mystery novel with surreal plot twists. Siobhan O'Brien, a woman of Korean descent adopted by parents who are Irish and Norwegian, inherits her boss's private detective agency after she finds him deceased (from natural causes) at his desk. The agency is in deep financial trouble yet as soon as she decides to keep the doors open, Josie, the younger sister of a fellow Korean adoptee friend of hers, (who died years previously- and her sister is not Korean which is relevant to the plot) contacts her for help finding her missing daughter, Penny.

The search for the missing daughter begins with lies and omissions from Josie and Siobhan soon finds that Penny's life in college is not at all what it seems. Penny is attending a women's college in update NY that Siobhan is an alumna of which makes it easy for Siobhan to infiltrate. The plot line of what is happening at the college swiftly becomes absurd as Siobhan meets eccentric students and finds out secrets that the college president is hiding from everyone. Siobhan's trail leads her from the college to a yoga cult retreat and a bizarre yet magnetic guru who is intertwined with the university.

While the plot takes a lot of turns, it's not so over the top that the book is too silly to read and the dry humor is impeccable. In addition to the mystery aspect, Siobhan has a budding romance with one of her fellow officemates and the book also addresses the complexities of being a transracial adoptee.

This is a great book for fans of cozy mysteries and noir. I'm excited that this is part of a series and am looking forward to reading more.

Many thanks to Datura Books and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion.

This was such a fun and clever mystery! I really liked Siobhan O’Brien as a main character—she’s smart, sarcastic, and a little chaotic in the best way. I loved that she’s not your typical young, fearless detective. She’s easing into middle age, figuring things out one donut at a time, and that made her feel very real and refreshing.

The mystery was well-paced and had just the right amount of twists. I was pulled into the story right away, especially with the missing college girl and the strange things happening on campus. The college setting was super interesting—it’s a very old, all-women’s school that suddenly starts admitting men, and the tension between the students, staff, and the weird new science center made the story even more gripping.

There were so many funny moments too—between dangerous vegan food, over-the-top yoga, and billionaires with too many secrets, I was entertained the whole time. Some parts were a little over-the-top or unbelievable, which is why it’s 4 stars instead of 5, but overall I really enjoyed it. I’m excited to read more books in this series!

This book is really quite interesting. It has many little sun plots running alongside the main plot that I really liked and found really interesting.

The writing is incredibly intricate and cleverly done with interesting and likeable characters. It's an interesting and quirky book and overall I would definitely recommend.

I enjoyed reading this book despite the plot being quite dark and slightly disturbing. It still managed to be funny at times and the main character is interesting. I wish more of her backstory was delved into with her best friend and her best friend’s sister. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you Datura Books @daturabooks , Netgalley @netgalley and Sung J. Woo @sungjwoo for this free book!
“Skin Deep” (Siobhan O’Brien #1) by Sung J Woo. Genre: Mystery. Location: Upstate New York, USA. Time: Autumn, present.

Korean-American adoptee Siobhan O'Brien (40) is a newly licensed private investigator. When her boss dies and leaves his Athena, NY PI agency to her, she wonders if she can keep it solvent. Then former roommate Josie asks Siobhan to find her daughter Penny, who disappeared from her Llewelyn college dorm in rural Selene, NY. For the 1st time in its 200 year history, Llewellyn opened its doors to men. Fringe group The Womyn of Llewellyn are furious, but the ex-fashion-model college president says it’s financially necessary. So where did she get money to build a new science center, and why is it under 24/7 armed surveillance? Siobhan must sort out Llewellyn’s secrets and the threads between Christopher, Penny, and Grace; Annabelle, Cleo and Dharma; Faith, Wheeler, and Travers Hall.

Author Woo has written a mystery that takes on cultural, societal, and familial issues. His main character is a cool, slightly snarky, quite endearing detective (“Next on my must-annoy list was…”)(“…yoga people are like country musicians to me: they all look and sound alike.”) Woo adds to the detective atmosphere by having Siobhan imagine what former boss Ed would do when she’s feeling overwhelmed. His descriptions of the autumn trees, leaves, the Adirondack Mountains makes me want to visit upstate New York! If you enjoy detectives like Kinsey Malone and VI Warshawski, pick up this book. My best praise is that Woo writes Siobhan so well, I didn’t realize he was a male author until the end of the book! It’s fast-paced, full of twists, and it’s 5 stars from me 📚👩🏼‍🦳#skindeep #sungjwoo

I received a digital ARC of the 2025 version from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very readable, fast-paced mystery. I like Siobhan and I wouldn't mind reading more of her adventures.

The action gets repetitive, which isn't too annoying because scenes are so short, but it's noticeable. There's a lot of Siobhan going to an event/meeting/party, learning something important and leaving almost immediately, and multiple instances where people conveniently stop right beside where Siobhan is hiding to have expository conversations.

The mystery is pretty implausible and I didn't find the resolution particularly satisfying. There's also an undercurrent of misogyny throughout the book that is very "male author writing women", and some anti-fatness that doesn't need to be here at all.

This was a quick and engaging enough read that I might still pick up the sequel, but the series isn't a must-read for me.