I read this book through my Kindle Unlimited membership. Peter Vonder Haar’s Lucky Town is the first book in the Clarke and Clarke Mysteries. He is a Pajaiban, and awesome. I really liked this book a lot. I used to play spot the CIA agent in my work at the National Archives because you have to protect people’s identities while they still might be alive, so one of the side characters made me smile. I liked the main brother and sister duo of Charlie and Cy a lot, although I liked Charlie more. She’s fun.
Charlie and Cy’s older brother Mike goes missing, and as private investigators not on the case, they start to dig in to what happened to their brother, who works for DHS. There are conspiracies and cover ups and a somewhat hard boiled detective who also is a smart ass. I don’t know much about Houston, but the city definitely feels like a fully fleshed out character. There are also potentially other spin offs with Charlie and Cy’s other brothers. I liked their mom a lot too, and I really liked the dynamic of the entire family. The book made me hungry for Texas bbq. Also, the book made me laugh, which you usually don’t get in these serious Government conspiracy type books.
If I had to raise one small quibble, I will say there is a lot of exposition. I know a lot of it was necessary since this book is a spring board for additional stories, but the beginning has a lot of telling, and not showing. Things pick up quickly though, and I am already eagerly anticipating the next one. Yay Pajiba community writers. So much talent!
