When Melanie had a tiff with her husband Rand, she
occasionally took off and disappeared. She usually goes to
a spa or a new vacation spot, so when she went missing
again, Fina thought she would soon be able to find her
sister-in-law. After all, people leave their trails through
credit cards and highway transponders and Fina certainly
knows her tools of the trade.
Josefina's father, Carl Ludlow, had built up over time a
very lucrative business helping people with personal injury
lawsuits and now is the king of his attorney empire in
Boston along with his three sons. Rand, Scotty and Matthew
are all powerful lawyers in Ludlow & Associates. Fina was
slated to do the same, but after losing interest in the
finer points of law and flunking out of Boston University
axed that option, she is slated as the go-to scapegoat by
her very rich, but quite dysfunctional family. For her
part, Fina is happy not to be part of the family firm as
it frees her up to follow her true calling as a Private
Investigator, yet she still gets treated as an employee
of sorts as she does contract work for them. Despite the
putdowns at home, they know she is an exceptionally
talented PI and they want her on the case.
With time ticking by and no action on Melanie's credit
cards, Fina starts to worry that something much more
serious is at play. As new evidence emerges, the police
suspect that Rand, Melanie's husband, may be involved and
the pressure is on Fina to help stop her brother from being
arrested. He says he is innocent, but clues point towards
him and Detective Pitney is on his case. Can she believe
him?
With the help of Milloy, her best friend and masseur since
Boston University days, and Christian Menendez, her special
friend in the Boston Police, Fina starts fitting some small
clues together and ends up in danger. As she gets a little
too close for comfort for someone, suddenly the hunter is
the hunted. Will she be able to get to the bottom of this
before even more people, including her, get hurt? As Fina
works tirelessly and ruthlessly to uncover the truth, where
will her loyalties lie?
It is hard to believe that LOYALTY is a debut novel as
Ingrid Thoft has so masterfully crafted a very intriguing
and well written story with an exciting plot from start to
finish!
Thoft has done extensive research, including doing a
college certificate program in private investigation, which
has paid off in spades as her diverse characters are
authentic in their actions, motivations and circumstances.
Fina Ludlow is a strong and fearless protagonist and is
willing to take on almost any challenge. She is smart,
strong and pretty, full of caustic wit, has a caring and
loyal heart, and is willing to use any tools of her trade
to get the info she seeks. I particularly enjoyed the
highly charged interactions between Fina and her family
members, her old mentor Frank Gillis, and balancing the
tension between the men in her life.
While LOYALTY is easily read as a stand-alone book, I sure
hope it is the start of a new series with this intrepid and
gutsy kick ass PI. I definitely want to read more! Full
of nonstop action, dysfunctional and complex family
dynamics and an unusual mystery, LOYALTY is a very hard
book to put down! Enjoy!
The Ludlows are a hard-charging family, and patriarch Carl
Ludlow treats his offspring like employees—which they are.
But his daughter, Fina, is a bit of a black sheep. A law
school dropout, her father keeps her in the fold as the
firm’s private investigator, working alongside her
brothers.
Juggling her family of high-powered (and
highly dysfunctional) attorneys, the cops and Boston’s
criminal element is usually something Fina does without
breaking a sweat. But when her sister-in-law disappears,
she’s caught up in a case unlike any she’s encountered
before.
Carl wants things resolved without
police interference, but the deeper Fina digs, the more
impossible that seems. The Ludlows close ranks, and her
brother Rand and his unruly teenage daughter Haley grow
mysteriously distant from the family. As Fina unearths more
dirt, the demands of family loyalty intensify. But Fina is
after the truth—no matter the cost.
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