In this 7th book in the 'Eve Ronin' series, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) homicide detective gets embroiled in several cases. The book can be read as a standalone.
Background: Eve Ronin was a young deputy in Lancaster when she subdued and arrested action movie star Blake Largo for assaulting a woman. A video of the incident went viral, and Eve leveraged the moment of fame to leap over dozens of more qualified deputies to become a homicide detective in the LASD.
Eve also agreed to a fictional TV series - called Ronin - based on her detective exploits. The Eve Ronin television character performs incredible feats of derring-do, and the public tends to confuse the real Eve and the fictional Eve.
Eve makes lots of money from the Ronin show, and now lives in an expensive house in Calabasas.
Eve's 'unearned' detective status and newfound wealth garners HUGE resentment in the LASD, and Eve trusts few cops to have her back. Luckily, Eve can count on her detective partner/father figure Duncan "Donuts" Pavone, a big man known for his prodigious appetite and McDonalds addiction.
Eve and Duncan recently exposed serious wrongdoing on the part of Sheriff Richard Lansing. Now Lansing is out of a job and Duncan is on desk duty, under investigation for misconduct. Duncan's confinement means he and Eve must collaborate via phone calls; consultations in the office; and outings for food.
With Lansing gone there's a new boss in town, Sheriff Waylon Gifford, a Texan intent on cleaning up the LASD's image. To help with this, Gifford gives Eve a cowboy hat and a selfie stick, and instructs her to make videos for social media. The first clip has Gifford and Eve, side by side on horseback: Gifford says, "There's a new sheriff in town" and Eve adds, "Justice will be served."
Eve is FURIOUS about this social media assignment, and is even more annoyed when she's told the popular actress who plays Eve on screen, Erin Casey, will be doing a ride-along for a few days, to raise the LASD's profile.
As the story moves forward, Eve gets involved in a number of investigations, both officially and unofficially.
★ Juliette Winter, a child star who flamed out as an adult, is found dead in her sauna. This initially looks like an accident, but a drug screen raises suspicions.
★ Dr. Ryan Massey is bludgeoned to death in his medical clinic’s parking lot. Massey's ex-wife and her boyfriend are seen fleeing the scene, and Eve arrests them for murder. However, it may not be as simple as that.
★ Eve agrees to do a favor for her estranged father, Vince Nyby, a semi-retired Hollywood director employed on the Ronin series. Vince loved 'em and left 'em all over town in his younger years, and one of his children, Lauren, seems to have a shady job. Reluctantly, Eve agrees to look into it.
★ The actress who plays Eve, Erin Casey, is pleased with her ride-along, where she can observe real police procedures. There are unfortunate consequences, though, when Erin is mistaken for Eve and shot (but not killed) in a restaurant. Eve isn't supposed to work the case, but she does anyway.
★ The mobile shooting range, used for police officers' periodic firearms qualification, goes up in flames and causes two deaths. This gives Eve the opportunity to work with Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker.
Walker also helps Eve solve another case, and they pursue the perpetrators together.
The book is is action-packed and filled with interesting ancillary characters, including Russian gangsters; Israeli mobsters; Daniel Brooks - Eve's forensic anthropologist boyfriend; Lou Noomis - a crime scene investigator who's a urine expert; Captain Megan Beatie - Eve's new captain, who gets frustrated trying to control Eve; and more.
The novel's lighter moments are provided by the banter between Eve and Duncan, who's a clever guy with a good sense of humor. For instance, Duncan says firefighters need physical fitness, but detectives need deductive reasoning. Duncan jokes there's an old saying about that from ancient Greece:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
You can run three miles and make perfect time
But only smarts can answer: was it accident or crime?
Duncan's obsession with food is also played for laughs, like the time Duncan urges Eve to attend a cast party, so she can stuff her pockets with goodies for him; and the occasion Duncan does a favor for someone who brings him enough cookies to last until winter. 
My major critique of the story centers around how quickly Eve solves cases because of good luck. A coincidence suddenly pops up; a piece of evidence unexpectedly emerges; Eve looks at someone and makes an intuitive leap; that kind of thing. This seems unlikely to happen to real-life investigators.
That said, this an engaging novel that would appeal to many mystery fans.
I had the digital book and the audiobook, narrated by Nicol Zanzarella and Eric Conger, who do a fine job.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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