Book Review for “Burnt Ends” by Laura Wetsel.
Summary: “Murder is juicier with a side of barbecue sauce. Private Investigator Tori Swenson gets a strange accidental death case that looks like murder at one of her uncle’s drive-ins and decides it’s time to get revenge on her estranged family. Pretending to want a reunion, she appears at her uncle’s party to secretly investigate them. When her uncle suddenly dies, Tori’s case takes a sinister turn that makes her a suspect in her uncle’s death and the killer’s next target. To uncover who dethroned the barbecue king, Tori will have to face her own fiery demons while pursuing a killer who wants to make dead meat out of her.”
Age: Adult; Genres: Genre – Mystery, Fiction; Settings: Era/s: Contemporary; Location/s: USA – Kansas & Missouri – Kansas City; Other Categories: Novel, Murder, Families, Private Investigator.
Okay, I admit it, I’m a bit shallow, but the main reason I asked for this book was because I really liked the original cover art. I mean, look at it – it’s just perfect. You automatically think of a fast-food joint, and this whole novel is about a family in the fast-food business. Add to that the drips of blood off the red lettering, and you know someone is going to be murdered. Add to that there being no cute kitties or puppies was another plus for me, although I should have gathered from this that it wasn’t going to be on the cozy side. But hey, I have been leaning towards reading more mystery novels, and I also liked having a real PI as opposed to some amateur sleuth, for a change.
However, the biggest problem I had with this book was our protagonist’s drug addiction. I’m not saying that every good guy in a novel has to be a boy scout or a nun, but I find that characters with extreme addictions are harder for me to relate to. That goes for any substance or behavior. That said, it isn’t that I didn’t like Tori, but I did feel sorry for her because of her addiction. In fact, when her policeman friend (also a recovering addict) decides he’s not going to enable her habit anymore, I practically cheered. I know that it is a disease, and that these people need help to recover, but I also know that when they’re under the influence of their poison of choice, they aren’t in control, no matter what they say to themselves. This made me doubt that Tori would ever be able to solve this crime, and not in the least surprised at all the trouble she gets into along the way.
That said, I get why Wetsel made Tori this way, because it does help with building up some of the tension, especially when she stumbles into certain situations, made more difficult because she’s high (as opposed to clear-headedly following a lead). That is one way to increase the intrigue and put some pep in your plot, so despite my reservations, this ended up being a good thing. Sadly, that didn’t help me better identify with Tori, but it did help me enjoy the book a bit more. Add that to the fact that there’s all of Tori’s family, who are either addicts themselves, or on the verge of becoming them, and that a whole lot of action. Speaking of Tori’s family, there were a few times when I was confused who was whom, since there seemed to be so many of them, but that’s probably just me. Despite that, there were a few that were pretty interesting, and showed off Wetsel’s creativity in character development.
In addition to all this, Wetsel seems to know Kansas City very well, and its penchant for BBQed foods, in particular the “burnt ends” of a brisket, which aren’t actually burnt. This does allow for a nice double meaning to the title here, since Tori’s family had a bunch of BBQ places. I had no idea what that was, and although it sounds okay now that I know, my immediate reaction was “why”? But it is a KC invention, and therefore appropriate. The other item I didn’t know was Topo Chico, which Tori drinks by the gallon. Apparently, it is a Mexican product which is type of sparkling mineral water. Okay, I’m a big lover of sparkling water myself (both plain and mineral), so it sounds good to me. In fact, if I ever get back to KC, I might want to try it. All this is to say that while these details sound good, some of it felt like inside information that was used to ground the story in KC, and at times, felt a touch superfluous.
In any case, I did like this novel, although it wasn’t totally to my taste. The characters are strongly written, the writing style has a slightly gruff tone that perfectly fits the protagonist, the plot has enough twists to keep us guessing, and there are plenty of complexities here to keep the pace rolling along. But if you like these kinds of PI/murder mystery books, that aren’t cozy, but also aren’t overly gritty, this could be a real winner for you. Especially if you don’t mind a very spunky female private investigator who has an unfortunate drug habit. I’m glad I read it, and although I’m not sure I’d want to read a sequel to this (if Wetsel writes one) I’ll recommend it to those who enjoy this genre, and give it four out of five stars.
The CamCat Books release date for “Burnt Ends” by Laura Wetsel is September 24, 2024. This book is available (via the following affiliate links) from Amazon, Blackwell’s (prices include international shipping), Waterstones, WHSmith, Kobo US (eBooks and audiobooks), Booksamillion.com, Barnes & Noble, iTunes (iBooks and audiobooks), new or used from Alibris, or Better World Books (promoting libraries and world literary), as well as from Bookshop.org and UK.Bookshop (to support independent bookshops, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic). I would like to thank the publishers for sending me an ARC of this novel via Edelweiss.
This novel qualifies for the following reading challenges: New Release Challenge (#40).
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