Book Review: Engaged in Danger

On this Mysterious Monday, we are pleased to bring you our review of Engaged in Danger, book 4 in the Jamie Quinn mystery series by Barbara Venkataraman. We enjoyed the first three books in the series, so we were eager to find out what Jamie, who practices family law in Hollywood, Florida, is up to now.

The plot

In this volume, Jamie’s boyfriend is headed to Australia to work with wombats for three months. But no worries, right? It looks like Jamie is going to be busy with a divorce case anyway—one involving Marvin Glasser, a high-profile, well-connected lawyer whose wife wants a divorce. The twenty-six lawyers Mrs. Glasser has already contacted have refused to take the case, and Jamie is inclined to refuse it as well, because who wants to get mixed up with Marvin Glasser? He’s into some shady stuff, and he’s seriously out of her league. But soon enough Jamie’s best friend, Grace, a corporate lawyer, has convinced her that they should pair up on the case. It will be fun to work together, not to mention lucrative. They never counted on a personal rift that would leave them not speaking to each other as they work to prepare their case.

Meanwhile, Jamie has also agreed to help her neighbors look into the circumstances of the plane crash that killed the wife’s twin sister. The crash was blamed on mechanical failure, but could the failure have been intentional, and why do suspicious names connected to Glasser keep coming up in this case? Most importantly, will the rift between Jamie and Grace spell the end of their friendship—or of their lives?

The cat

The cat in this series is Mr. Paws, a 12-pound gentleman whom Jamie inherited from her mother. Their relationship has not always been easy (Jamie called him Mr. Pain in the Ass in book 1!), but they are settling in nicely together now. Mr. Paws has more of a presence in this book than in previous volumes, making him seem more like a part of Jamie’s life.  He demands Fancy Feast, he purrs, he walks on her stuff.… In short, he’s a pretty great cat. He’s not a major character in the book, but he is nice to have around.

Our verdict

We don’t usually go for lawyer stories, but we really like Jamie Quinn. She is easy to relate to—not all fancy schmancy—and her life is in just enough of a state of disarray to make her a lot of fun. We found Engaged in Danger to be pleasingly complex, with a totally believable situation that includes mysterious Russians, money laundering, video gaming … and of course Mr. Paws. I have to hold back one paw just because the cat is a minor character and this is a cat blog, but otherwise we recommend this series. We think you’ll enjoy getting to know Jamie just as much as we have!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

We received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. We wouldn’t tell you it was good unless we really liked it!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!