Rhonda Bird is a court-appointed lawyer living in Colorado. Every aspect of her life is exactly where she wants it to be until she gets a phone call. Her father is dead, and she must return to California to meet with his attorney for reasons unknown. Reaching out from beyond the grave, her estranged father has managed to upset her life, once again. Arriving in California, Rhonda discovers her father has left her with more than the mess of cleaning up his sordid affairs, but also a teenage half-sister, Baby. Aptly named, Baby is the epitome of immature. She’s spoiled, entitled, and mourning the only parent she had left. This should be enough to deal with, but her accountant father has had a career switch and now owns a private detective agency with some less than stellar clientele.

When a classmate of Baby’s comes to them with a tale of being abducted, worlds start colliding. A group of upper society kids has a game of exacting revenge on those who think have disrespected them. The mistake that might cost them all dearly was choosing an ex-assassin as one of their targets. Dealing with him, a spoiled sister, and her father’s shady contacts, Rhonda may not make it out alive.

2 SISTERS DETECTIVE AGENCY is the newest standalone by the powerhouse duo of James Patterson and Candice Fox. Anything that these two write while combining their signature styles is an automatic bestseller, and this mystery is no exception. This is one of those books that will “one more chapter” you to death, until you ultimately give up and finish the book. Rhonda is not your typical, cookie-cutter character. Rhonda is large and in charge and I love her. From page one, this is one character that will reach readers across the board. From her high self-esteem to her take-no-guff attitude, Rhonda is the hero we all need right now.

The mystery itself is presented in Patterson’s signature short chapters which I have grown to love. Told from different points of view throughout, we get a glimpse of each character and what drives them to do what they do. The downfall of this is there is no real mystery. It’s all laid out. We know who the players are and what their motives are. Usually, this annoys me, but this was so expertly written, I grabbed some popcorn and let the movie unfold as I turned the pages. One can only hope 2 SISTERS DETECTIVE AGENCY becomes a new bestselling series by this power duo.