Want to Play? by PJ Tracy

Description from Amazon:

A small American town.

A brutally cold autumn.

A killer is at work.

Two bodies are found; two slayings that the police treat as unrelated. But games-creator Grace MacBride knows different.

The murders are exact copies of those in a game she’s designing - one that already has hundreds of eager players.

As the copycat killings mount up, Grace knows that she is both suspect and potential victim.

And with the serial killer getting closer, she is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse . . .

 

This is the first book I have read by this author(s) and I enjoyed it! I know it’s rather old and I seem to have somehow missed the series, but I must say that it had a quirk to it that made it fun to read.

Not that reading about murders should be fun. But I liked how the sets of detectives were brought together over shared cases and how the murders were based on the levels within the game. The way the murders were pulled off was quite ingenious but you could tell that the book was older in how the characters interacted.

Speaking of characters, the whole Monkeewrench group is such a diverse bunch with fabulous characters. And their backstory about protecting Grace and the history they share makes for an intriguing element. However, the descriptions of Annie... really? Apparently she is large. Very large. In fact, she is described as obese and fat, and having men fall at her feet at the way she walks. And this is said over and over again. Enough already. But Charlie the dog? Super sweet...

I enjoyed the slight romantic element of it and how the author did not hold back on whether it was good or bad guys who died. The layers of the book are good, so the backstories, the murders, the connection between detectives who get to meet, and how it all plays out keeps you going until the end. With a twist, of course.

And while I appreciate when authors put in a chapter of the next book to entice you to buy the second one, for me it’s a bugbear as I think I still have more to read in the book and the next thing it’s done. Oh well... I’m going to try the second book in the series too.