Vice and Virtue

A Layla Virtue Mystery #1

By Libby Klein

ISBN 9781496748553 

libbykleinbooks.com

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

Synopsis:

Layla Virtue, a blue-haired, thirtysomething recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself in this hilarious and heartfelt mystery.

Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Although try telling that to the group of local ladies in relentless pursuit of her as their new BFF.

Meanwhile, after her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s hard competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But she isn’t in a position to turn down any gig—which is why she’s at an eight-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last… (from Goodreads)

Review:

Vice and Virtue has my vote to be the author’s next long-running series! To me, the first couple chapters seemed slow, then the pages flew! Layla is a clever and engaging protagonist, and even with her life in ruins, has a fabulous sense of humor and a unique way of getting through life situations. I hope that those in twelve step groups can use what Layla learns in AA as affirmation for their own lives.

Fragile layers of Layla’s story are slowly revealed throughout as she wades through the remnants of her upside-down life. She blames herself for several deaths that led to the loss of her 18-year career in law enforcement. When she left, Layla cashed out her retirement to buy an older, single-wide mobile home in an older park filled with quirky, mostly older, people.

Layla and those in her life are defined well. We learn about each person, including who her father really is, through realistic conversations, behaviors, and her inner dialogue. The lengths she and her father go to while hiding his identity are funnier with each costume, and her struggles between deep, genuine love for him and frustration by how people who knew them in the past used her to get to him contribute to her inner storms. Ringo and Nick became welcome additions through the storms.

Layla suffers from severe PTSD, having seen the cops on her team either shot or blown up in the disaster of her last operation. We learn more about this throughout the novel, but she simply can’t remember enough to know how and why it occurred. A detective in her precinct who she knew since school days harassed her whenever he saw her.

Layla meets interesting people in her regular AA meetings. Three women have invited her to come hang out with them, but she has eluded them. Layla is a loner. Friendships never seem to work out for her. She preferred loneliness over hope for a genuine friend who wasn’t looking for what she couldn’t – or wouldn’t – give. She tried to explain it to the women who kept inviting her for coffee. They kindly suggested that to stay sober, she needed friends.

One woman learned she was taking rock-n-roll jobs and wanted her to fill in at a friend’s kiddie birthday party. When she got home that day, her father had arrived for a visit, so she accepted the kiddie party to buy groceries for his stay.

The party was not what she expected – a bunch of rich, mostly spoiled kids. The mothers at the party were drinking, some excessively. Layla called an Uber for one of them and stuffed her into it instead of letting her drive home plastered. She alternated sets with Chuckles the Clown, a fifty-something, disgusting, obnoxious guy who brought his own bottle to slug down before and during his show. While teaching the kids how to juggle, he collapsed and died. First responders were from her former precinct, and she wasn’t able to get away without being noticed. When the detective came for her statement, he did say that Chuckles had been murdered by a unique use of a poison.

When the women – Bree, Charisse, and Scarlett – heard about the dead clown, they were curious. When they learned that  the clown was murdered, they wanted to find out who did it. They didn’t understand Layla’s reluctance to find the killer. Nobody in AA knew Layla had been a cop, as many alcoholics or addicts had bad experiences with cops – including her! They knew some of the mothers who were at the party, and were curious.

The mystery had me stumped, and I was eager to learn who really killed the clown. I didn’t have a pet suspect, or any suspect, by the time the clown killer was revealed. I was surprised by the identity and the motive, and satisfied with the outcome.

There were a couple valuable life lessons I would have been happy to ignore. The author presented several life challenges that are normal in the many lives, including alcoholism or drug addiction, and dementia. She demonstrates grace and dignity for the characters. She does not leave flawed humans (aren’t we all?) in the dark, but delivers glimpses of hope. We close with Layla in a better head and heart space than how we met her. The final chapters offer several opportunities, some affirming and others very bittersweet. I highly recommend this novel, and look forward to many more adventures with Layla, her father, and their friends.