Set Up, by Maxine O'Callaghan, is a Delilah West thriller set a couple of decades ago in Santa Ana, CA. As the story opens, Delilah is working undercover for County Supervisor, Sam Newley. Money has gone missing from his Save Our Parks Fund, a pet project of his. Delilah had been hired to discover who was doing this and all evidence pointed to Sandy Renkowski, a new hire. Although the findings did not sit well with Delilah, the evidence is clear and Sandy is arrested.

Delilah moves on with her other clients until she takes a day off to spend with her friend Rita for a day of lunch in Laguna, only to discover that Rita has orchestrated a meeting between Delilah and environmentalist, Bobbi Calder. It would appear that Bobbi has been threatened with a letter bomb, although it was not armed. Bobbi and Delilah do not hit it off well, and they part with Delilah feeling she will not be called on the case.

Little did Delilah know that later that same day she would find Bobbi sitting on Sandy's couch with Sandy's body was oozing life on the floor before her. It is at that point that Delilah takes it upon herself to tell officers that she works for Bobbi and to begin backing herself into a corner that will result in attempts on her life and the unraveling of events that occurred twenty some years before.

As with all Delilah West mysteries, one must transport themselves back to a world without cellphones being common, the Internet still a dream, and bad guys getting away with more than technology allows today. But when you do that, you are in store for a wild ride littered with clues for you to piece together. Delilah is a strong female character from a time when women were not expected to be strong. I enjoyed this book as much as others of this series I had read and recommend it for those that still find allure in Mannix and romance in Magnum, P.I. I look forward to my next trip back in time to Southern California to follow Delilah once again.