Jennifer’s review of Against the Mark (Raines of Wind Canyon #9) by Kat Martin.
The perfect murder is a work of art In one catastrophic instant, Haley Warren’s estranged father was taken from her. She never got the chance to reconnect with him, so now she’s doing it the only way she’s got left: by proving the explosion that killed him was no accident.
When Tyler Brodie, the provocative and handsome P.I. hired by Haley, discovers that her father was investigating a suspected art theft, he knows his death is no coincidence. After all, tens of millions of dollars worth of stolen art could motivate a thief to go to any lengths-including getting rid of anyone poking around where they don’t belong.
As Haley and Ty get closer to the truth, the truth gets ugly: Did Haley’s dad know too much…or was he in on the take? And although Ty’s a consummate professional, he’s having trouble focusing on the facts of the case, and not the figure of his gorgeous client. The two are determined to get to the bottom of the case, even if it means they die trying.
Haley Warren has recently arrived in LA to investigate her estranged father Jimmy’s death. She hadn’t spoken to her dad since he left her and her mother in Chicago to marry someone named Betty Jean in LA, but when the stepmother she never met emails saying Jimmy’s death was no accident, Haley can’t help but come. She loved her dad and deeply regrets never trying to reach out to him, and while she doesn’t want anything to do with Betty Jean, she feels like she owes it to her dad to find the truth. Haley stays with her great aunt Ellie, who suggests she get help from a private investigator friend named Tyler Brodie. The two start digging into the case, learning more about the circumstances of Jimmy’s death and, more importantly, the life he had been leading.
The plot centers around the art world, which was unique. Betty Jean suspects Jimmy, who was an insurance investigator, may have been murdered because of an investigation he had been conducting into the theft of some paintings. I thought the crime set up was inventive and clever, and I enjoyed seeing some details about how such crimes could be pulled off. In fact, I would have appreciated even more details about the paintings and how thefts like this might happen.
I also enjoyed the secondary characters. Aunt Ellie is great. She’s a very wealthy widow, and she uses that wealth to help people. She’s energetic and athletic, not some tottering old lady, and she’s even got her own little romance going on (though that mostly happens “off screen”). Nice to see a competent and lively older character in a book! I also really liked the portrayal of Betty Jean. Haley has a lot of preconceived notions about her. She can’t understand why her dad, who was a high paid executive at his father-in-law’s company and married to Haley’s beautiful, rich mother, would leave everything behind to marry some nobody. Betty Jean isn’t what Haley expected, and as she spends more time learning about her dad’s life in California, she realizes that her parents’ marriage wasn’t what she thought either.
So what didn’t I like? One big thing was Haley. I thought she was selfish and spoiled. She is snobby, internally commenting on Ty’s country boy tendencies, Betty Jean’s weight, etc. She does get a bit less snobby as the book progresses, but I could never really get over it. She felt very immature to me, too. She obsesses over the women who call Ty. He is nothing but upfront and honest with her about his attraction and the fact that he has no interest in anyone but her, yet she still questions him routinely, acts huffy when Ty gets phone calls, and assumes he can never be faithful. At the start of the book, Haley admits she’s never really had a good sexual relationship, so she theorizes that it might mean she’s a lesbian. The scene where she discusses her theory with Ty was childish a little offensive, and it did not endear Haley to me. Even worse, later she starts to realize she is falling for Ty, but she refuses to entertain the idea that there could be something more between them because she “doesn’t believe in love.” She keeps saying she’s never known any relationships that worked out, despite the fact that her aunt’s marriage seemed to have been very happy, her dad found a happy marriage, Ty’s business partner is happily married, etc. In fact, from what I could see the only marriage in the book that didn’t really work out was her parents. While her reticence made sense at the start of the book, it dragged on too long for me, even after Ty made it clear he wanted a real relationship with her.
The way they solved the crime was also a little over-the-top for me. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say it involved covert paragliding. While the plot felt grounded and fairly realistic before, it kind of lost me at that point. Add that to the uneven pacing I felt throughout the book, and I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I hoped.
Grade: 2.75 out of 5
This book is available from Mira. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.
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