Supping with the Devil by Sally Spencer

Monika's boss that had an affair with her is blaming Monika for his wife's drunk driving death.  It's not her fault, but he won't forgive her.  So he sends her to the Earl of Ridley's Rock Festival as a consultant.  It's calculated to shame her and make her quit.  Instead, she ends up right in the middle of a can of worms...

Severn House Publishing and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 1st.

This is the 8th book in this series.  I only found Monika a book or so ago.  She's a wounded soul who has turned into a very good detective.  She's still weak on the emotional front and that's what caused her affair with the Super.  But she's a dedicated and determined investigator who will find the perpetrator no matter the cost to herself.  In this story, her personal cost is high.

If it's not odd enough an Earl wants to relive Woodstock, he hires a motorcycle gang to keep the peace.  Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

At the core of this, there are games being played at the castle, on the grounds and at the police station.  The new man brought up to head up Monika's team while she's away is a manipulator who is trying to break the team apart by causing doubt, fear, and anger in the members against other members.  Unfortunately, her cops have more experience with that than he does, so it doesn't work.  The countess in the castle is trying to cause her son another breakdown so she can get the castle back.  The staff at the castle does as it is commanded at the castle no matter what it costs them.  And there's an undercover man in the middle of the festival transactions who is making money all the way around by screwing everybody.  Trying to figure out how this all related and just what happened when a young girl dies of heroin during her performance and a reporter was killed not long after being on the castle grounds is tough.  Monika is picking at it though, and will figure it out.

I didn't like what the author did to Monika in this book.  Monika has been a pretty depressed character in this series but I found the motorcycle gang a little over the top.  I also found out the disclosure at the end of the book hard to take.  You'll need to read it to see what you think, but the author disappointed me.  I don't like seeing the main character in the series being treated badly.  Maybe it's because I like Monika and how her team works and want to read more about that.  We'll have to see what happens in the next book.