Mystery-Dirty Little Secrets

Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart

J. J. Graves Mystery #1

Summary:

J. J. Graves is the coroner for a small town, best friends with the sheriff, Jack Lawson, and smack dab in the middle of what appears to be a serial killer running loose. She thinks her luck's changing when a famous mystery writer shows up on her front porch wanting to shadow her and sparks fly between them. It turns out that every victim in this small town had a secret and J. J.'s own secrets might be making her the next target. J. J. and Jack are fighting to get ahead of the killer but seem to always be one step behind. If they're going to stop the killings and keep J. J. from becoming the next victim then they'll have to get inside the killer's head before they lose it all.

Mystery Characteristics:

• The solving of the various murders in this story drives the plot forward. While J. J. and Jack work to figure out who is the serial killer, the reader is also sorting through the clues, trying to discover the culprit. 
• It is determined by the end of the story who the killer is and J. J., Jack and the reader know why the killings were committed at the end as well.
• Mysteries focus on an investigator and the team. In this case it is the witty and sarcastic coroner J. J. Graves and serious, protective, down to earth Jack Lawson, the sheriff. J. J. is involved in every aspect of this investigation, she goes with Jack to help discover more clues. It goes beyond her role as the coroner.
• Like many mysteries, this is the first in a series and the other books continue to follow J. J. and Jack as they solve crimes. Secondary characters in the town played a huge role in this story, whether they were suspects or not, they moved the story along and will probably be seen again in later books since they stay in the same town.
• The setting of the town-Bloody Mary-is vital to the story. It is J. J.'s home town and the small town setting really adds to the "whodunit" aspect of the story.
• The mood of this story ran from light hearted and witty with the banter between J. J. and Jack to dark and gritty with the violence and description of the murders. This story did a nice job of falling in that fine line between the two.
• There were many twists and turns in the plot of this story but it was constantly moving toward the solution and reveal of the killer and the reasoning behind the killings.

Read-a-likes:

Adult Mysteries:

• Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries #1) by Camilla Chafer. (Strong female protagonist who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation)
• One for the Money (Stephanie Plum #1) by Janet Evanovich. (Female protagonist solves mystery for her family company)

YA Mysteries:

• One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. (Five strangers walk into detention, only four come out alive. The four work to figure out what really happened to the fifth, especially since they're all suspects.)
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. (Girls work to discover if their missing friend is back and if she's the one blackmailing them with secrets from their past.)

My Opinion of Dirty Little Secrets:

Mysteries are not my favorite genre but I really loved this book. I was actually surprised by how much. I will definitely be reading the others in the series. This story is told from J. J.'s POV and she was a witty sarcastic protagonist which I really liked. It added some light and humor to a plot that was dark. It helped that there was some hints of romance in it with her relationship with the mystery writer but even that added to the mystery plot. I also liked that I wasn't able to guess who the serial killer was but the reveal made sense so I wasn't disappointed nor did I feel like I'd been tricked by the clues left. The clues weren't ones just to throw the reader off and it all came together in the end.