Aftershock

I've previously read and reviewed Melinek and Mitchell's first Jessie Teska mystery, First Cut. When I was offered the opportunity to participate in the Aftershock blog tour, I jumped on it. I do love a good forensic mystery. I devour books by Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerritsen, Jefferson Bass. Were I going back to school, I might go into forensic science. That's how fascinating I find the whole field.

The book opens when Jessie, recently promoted to deputy chief, is called to the scene of what appears to be a construction accident – a man crushed by a load of falling pipe. But what she's seeing doesn't match up with what allegedly happened, and she isn't going to let it lie. The deceased turns out to be a big-name architect who made himself a nuisance on the site, and there are a lot of people who could have wanted him dead. As she's trying to find evidence to support her theory that this was a homicide, San Francisco is hit by a big earthquake, and the medical examiner's office is up to its eyeballs in corpses.

Jessie isn't one who goes along to get along. She has a history with the investigating officer, and she doesn't trust that he's going to do his job and follow up on what she's telling him. So she does her own sleuthing, putting herself in harm's way as someone doesn't want the truth to come out.

I like Jessie. She is a take-no-crap woman doing a tough job and doing it well. Sometimes she makes impulsive decisions that don't always work out, and I can relate to that. I've said that “it seemed like a good idea at the time” will be my epitaph.

Melinek and Mitchell have once again done a bang-up job of writing an excellent procedural that just sucks you in. I love the details of the activity in the morgue. (I took a Law and Medicine class in law school – we got to observe autopsies. It was cool! I'm weird like that.) I used to be a prosecutor, so the details of the court hearings remind me of those days. And there were enough changes of direction to keep me guessing as to who the killer was almost up until the big reveal.

Another thorougly enjoyable read, and I look forward to more Jessie Teska.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for the advance reader copy. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.