Review: Gin and Panic (Discreet Retrieval Agency #3) by Maia Chance

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2020 KB
• Print Length: 281 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1250109051
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (Oct. 24 2017)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B06Y17JTLC

Book Description


“Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets—and has a high old time doing it! So will you.”—Ann B. Ross, New York Times bestselling author of the Miss Julia series

Former socialite Lola Woodby is now struggling to make ends meet as a not-so-discreet private eye in Prohibtion-era New York City, along with her stern Swedish sidekick, Berta. When they’re offered a piece-of-cake job—retrieving a rhinoceros trophy from the Connecticut mansion of big game hunter Rudy Montgomery—it seems like a no-brainer. After all, their client, Lord Sudley, promises them a handsome paycheck, and the gin and tonics will be plentiful and free. But no sooner do they arrive at Montgomery Hall than Rudy is shot dead.

When the police arrive to examine the scene, they conclude that Rudy had actually committed suicide. But Lord Sudley can’t believe his friend would have done that, and there’s a houseful of suspicious characters standing by. So Lord Sudley ups the ante for Lola and Berta, and suddenly, their easy retrieval job has turned into a murder investigation. Armed with handbags stuffed with emergency chocolate, gin flasks, and a Colt .25, Lola and Berta are swiftly embroiled in a madcap puzzle of stolen diamonds, family secrets, a clutch of gangsters, and plenty of suspects who know their way around a safari rifle.

Gin and Panic is the next jaunty, compelling Discreet Retrieval Agency mystery from beloved crime writer Maia Chance.

About the Author

 MAIA CHANCE was a finalist for the 2004 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington. She is writing her dissertation on nineteenth-century American literature. She is also the author of the Fairy Tale Fatal mystery series (Cinderella Six Feet Under, Snow White Red-Handed, and Beauty, Beast and Belladonna).



My Review

Gin and Panic is the third Discreet Retrieval Agency by author Maia Chance. This is the first book in the series that I have read. It can easily be read as a stand alone.

Gin and Panic is set in the 1920 Prohibition Era in New York and Connecticut. Lola and Berta, the Discreet Retrieval Agency's two owners, are hired to retrieve a rhinoceros from the country mansion of a big game hunter. They were retrieving it for Lord Sudley, an Englishman and fellow big game hunter. Lola and Berta are set to spend the weekend at the mansion but their host is murdered and then they discovered raw diamonds in the rhino head. A madcap adventure ensues from this point.

What a fun fun fun book! I loved the mystery aspect as well as the adventures that Berta and Lola became involved in. The book is well written and the author has ensured that we are back in the 1920s. I cannot wait to read more in this series!

I highly recommend Gin and Panic.