Crooked Street: A Joanna Piercy police procedural by Priscilla Masters

When Jadon Grover goes missing, their first thoughts are that he may have had a girlfriend or he may have just ditched his marriage.  His wife of two years insists he's the perfect husband.  He always lets her know when he'll be home, doesn't have a romantic interest besides her and he has a regular job.  The first clue they get that something might be wrong is when they call his place of employment and find out he doesn't work there...

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

The author spends a lot of time on her characters.  You learn their likes and dislikes, about their relationships and more.  She's almost too wordy for me.  The investigation goes slow, they revisit their witnesses and they do an extensive body search but with no luck.  It isn't until the last 25% of the book that the story actually moves on and gets into the heart of the matter.  I think a bit less about the characters and more about the crime would be better a mix for me.  Everyone's interests are different.

Joanna is very anxious to complete this case.  She figures Jadon is dead by this time but she has no idea where the body has been stashed.  She's also trying to get pregnant and trying not to be upset as her husband's parents (who don't like her) are moving in the area or that his daughter is coming to visit more frequently.  All those personal problems don't go well with investigations.  It's only when another body shows up from the same finance company that they begin to put the crime together.  It had to be someone they met while doing collections from the borrowers.  But who?

This story is written well, moves along slowly but smoothly and Joanna persists until she solves it.  She's also just found out she is pregnant.  It will be interesting to see what develops in the next book of this series.