Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Boston PI Sunny Randall searches for the unknown person who’s threatening a pair of Instagram influencers before the threats come true. The Covid pandemic has taken its toll on the restaurant Sunny’s buddy Spike owns, and she can’t help being interested when self-styled “media concierge” Bethany Rose offers the services of red-hot influencer couple Blake James and Alena Jade to promote the place and bring in new customers. Of course, neither Spike nor Sunny can afford these services, but Bethany is willing to offer them gratis if Sunny will figure out who’s been sending Blake a series of ominous Instagram posts warning, “YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.” No sooner has Sunny started asking who sneaked past Eddie Voltaire, the guard at Blake and Alena’s pricey apartment building, to snap a photo of Blake sleeping than Eddie’s body is found stabbed 13 times. Clearly the influencers and their manager are up against a seriously bad adversary. But Sunny’s appeals to her mobbed-up ex-father-in-law lead only to dead ends, and the closer she looks into the backgrounds of her clients, the guiltier they look themselves. In fact, she reflects, they’re remarkably closemouthed for people whose “entire careers were based on letting strangers in on their so-called personal lives.” Taking over the franchise for the first time, Gaylin proves the equal of Sunny’s creator in plotting and his clear superior in bringing his heroine to life. She doesn’t sound all that much like Parker; she sounds better. Gaylin brings Sunny to terms with contemporary social media even as she uncovers motives older than you can imagine. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.