HOT HOUSE: Book 1 of the E & A Investigation Series by Lisa Towles – Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Crime Thriller

Two private investigators find themselves reluctant but effective partners in Lisa Towles’ fast-paced psychological thriller, Hot House, Book 1 of the new E & A Thriller Series.

Two separate cases start to merge in a very murky middle. Mari Ellwyn unravels an attempt to blackmail a federal appellate court judge. Derek Abernathy looks into the mysterious death of a college student. He also investigates the death and disappearance of two of the reporters covering her case.

The reporters pursued the trail of a story involving the judge with whom Mari works. It seems the judge had a connection to the dead college student in Derek’s case. As they dig deeper into the joined cases, threats against Mari start to come from all sides, even from her former handlers at the CIA.

But the secret buried, literally, at the heart of this case comes with a shock. Because the victim was not who she seemed. At least not all of the time.

Hot House delivers a dark, edge-of-the-seat thriller. It begins as a relatively straightforward investigation into seemingly unrelated mysteries. But as the story follows the investigation, especially Mari Ellwyn, two levels of mystery open up.

On the surface, Ellwyn and Abernathy are dogged and determined investigators who mostly follow the rules, if only because they want to make sure that the case will hold up for their mutual frenemy, Ellwyn’s ex-lover and Abernathy’s former boss, Ivan Dent, Chief of Detectives for the LAPD.

Not that they don’t play a bit fast and loose at the edges of those rules. After all, sometimes in the pursuit of truth, the investigators have to step outside the lines.

Everyone involved in this mystery seems to have deep, dark and often deadly secrets. It’s clear from this new investigation that Dent’s detectives missed way too much in that initial search. Abernathy won’t talk about his firing from the LAPD. Ellwyn keeps her real motive for pursuing this investigation under wraps.

But Sascha Sophie Michaud had the most secrets of all – some of which she kept even from herself. And Michaud’s secrets provide the threat to the investigators – along with making the case so difficult to solve.

Readers will easily put themselves in Mari Ellwyn’s shoes.

She loves her dog, she’s not so sure about relationships – she even has a strained one with her family. But her few friends will ride or die with her. As capable as she is – and she is very capable – readers will shake in their shoes as this mystery threatens Mari’s life.

The resolution of the case is marvelously done, managing to be both expected and unexpected at the same time. Not that the reader will see any of it coming.

In the final pages, while the disparate cases that Ellwyn and Abernathy began with have wrapped up very satisfactorily, it’s clear that Mari Ellwyn has just pulled another thread on a case she’s been following for over a year. Hot House ends with the sense that there’s more for Mari to uncover in her own personal quest.

Readers will be left hoping and looking forward to Mari Ellwyn’s future investigations.