Duplicity by Ingrid Thoft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was my first Fina Ludlow. I won a copy from a blog (quite honestly, I had no idea I was entered). Anyway.
Thoft had me from the first page.
I love snappy writing, crisp dialog, a good pace, and characters who despite their flaws, or perhaps because of them, really leap off the page for me and make me root for them. DUPLICITY has all of that in spades.
There is plenty going on – suspicion at a mega-church (one of those where you just aren’t sure why they are so popular), murder, and the return of a ne’er do well brother. Thoft weaves it all together, never spending so much time on one storyline that you forget what else is happening. Fina Ludlow is a woman after my own heart – trying to make the best of a family that is…well, not the best. A little rough around the edges, not quite sure where she’s going, but she tries her best.
The plot is twisty enough. I did get suspicious of the killer before the reveal, but there was enough keeping me reading that it stayed a guess for a long time.
I think I’ve found a new “auto-buy” author. I’m must catch up on the earlier books before the next one comes out.