Hangtown

Janelle Watkins, Private Investigator, Book #2

By Karen Sandler

ISBN# 9781909223349

Author’s Website:  karensandler.net

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

*Beware of Spoilers*

Synopsis:

Marooned in her despised hometown of Greenville, California, private investigator Janelle Watkins wants nothing more than to keep her head down and make enough money to move back to the City. But even in the sleepy town of Greenville, the edgy, smart-mouthed private investigator seems to attract mayhem.

It starts with the apparent suicide of a nineteen year-old off a highway bridge. Then another young man goes missing and Janelle begins to suspect that there might be a connection between the incidents. With the help of her former SFPD partner and occasional lover, Sheriff Ken Heinz, Janelle begins to follow the convoluted trail, not realizing that the darkness of her past might finally be catching up. (From Goodreads)

Review:

Hangtown, the second book in the Janelle Watkins, Private Investigator series, can be read as a stand-alone novel; I have not yet read the first one and found this one to be satisfyingly complete in itself.  Janelle still suffers from the results of a gunshot wound from when she was with the San Francisco Police Department, and much to her frustration, it limits her ability to run, climb, or even, at times, walk.

Janelle has known Greenville’s Sheriff Ken Heinz for several years, trusting his instincts both as a Sheriff and a former partner in the San Francisco Police Department.  She doesn’t trust her heart to him, however, in spite of their on and off relationship.  Ken’s niece Cassie has been spending time with Janelle, and it was she who discovered the body of a hanged teen and one of her school friends, Zach Stinson.  It appeared that Zach, formerly in trouble with Greenville law enforcement for tagging, hung himself off the side of the bridge near her property.  Janelle is hired to find another local teen, Daniel Perez, who had once been a fellow tagger with Zach.  Since the cases may be related, Janelle tries to find out the results of finds in Zach’s death, in spite of Sheriff Heinz’ attempts to keep the details of the investigation within the department.

As if that isn’t enough, text threats are being sent to Janelle, her car is stolen and used in a murder attempt on a beloved local nurse/ family woman, and it appears that the old motor home she lives in had been entered when she wasn’t home.  The text threats are from a San Francisco exchange, where she had until recently lived and worked.  Janelle was knocked out in the home of a doctor she was investigating who was very dead when she came to.  And others seem to be getting injured at an alarming rate.  Janelle wants answers; she demonstrates her deductive talents as a former cop and a P.I. in an impressive and wise manner.  It is up to Ken’s efforts, and hers, to get to the root of the problem(s) before Janelle or someone else meet with an untimely serious injury – or death.

Hangtown is an engrossing, action-packed novel, one that begged me to stop whatever I was doing to get back to it.  The primary characters were well-defined, three-dimensional people, including flaws and scars.  They are likeable and more realistic because of their personal challenges.  Both Janelle and Ken are brilliant crime solvers, and their former SFPD partnership brings a level of teamwork that excels.  The developments of seemingly unrelated textures and colors were organized into the fabric of the plot, eliciting an edge-of-the-seat response from this reader.

Karen Sandler is expertly mastering this genre; it was a real challenge to determine who the “perp” might be, whether there is more than one, or to even narrow down the suspects.  In a manner that probably reflects the working life of a PI or a police detective, however,  the protagonists methodically work through multiple priorities and challenges,  bringing order out of the riot of colors and patterns to display the final product(s).  In the case of Hangtown, that product is a well-crafted, highly organized plot that the author can be pleased to achieve.  This reader is hopeful that we will see more of Janelle Watkins in the future, and also hopes to read the first book in the series in the near future.

I would recommend this novel to adults of any age who enjoy a well-written book with a tough-as-nails female sleuth.  Discretion is suggested for young adult readers due to some self-destructive subject matters.   Overall, however, I did enjoy reading this thriller and appreciated learning more about that particular addictive behavior.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*