Dead Lift: An Emily Locke Mystery (#2)

Author: Rachel Brady
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Single mom Emily Locke is building a new life with her daughter. Hoping to spend more time at home, she’s put her career on hold to work part-time for her private investigator friend, Richard Cole. It’s a nice balance between work and family until Emily finds out she’s been working for the attorney that defended her husband’s killer. The discovery nearly destroys her friendship with Richard, but Emily resists abandoning his client, the socialite Claire Gaston, who awaits trial for the murder of a local plastic surgeon. The threat of losing her children to a self-serving ex-husband terrifies Claire more than the specter of a life behind bars. Sympathetic to a mother’s fears and unconvinced of Claire’s guilt, Emily resolves to stick with the case despite her growing concerns about Richard and the dubious attorney who hired him. A mysterious note leads her into a daring undercover ruse at a high brow ladies health club. Impervious to fashion trends, disinterested in beauty treatments, Emily fakes conformity with Houston’s elite debutantes and trophy wives in a surreal fitness subculture where things, and people, are seldom what they seem. At this gym, “killer workout” has a whole new meaning.

Dead Lift is the second is the Emily Locke series by Rachel Brady. I didn't like this one as much as the first one, but it was still enjoyable. The mystery is pretty standard, but there is not real huge reveal at in the end. It wasn't too hard to figure out. I like Emily's character. I really felt for her while she tried to navigate being a mom to a daughter who doesn't know her. I can't imagine how I would react to that. The author does a decent job of navigating the subject. I was hoping for more of a romance between Emily and her boyfriend Vince. I didn't really feel the bond between them and the relationship is kind of bland.

If you haven't' read the first one, Final Approach, I would highly recommend that you do so. There is a lot of back story that is not really gone over in this book, so readers may be a little lost as to how the main character has come to be in her current situation. I also feel like the reader gets to know the characters better in the first one as apposed to this one. I wouldn't call Dead lift a stand alone novel. Both are quick enjoyable mysteries.. Give them a shot.

--Kari