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Roxane Weary #1
The Last Place You Look
Sarah Cook, a beautiful blonde teenager, disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton - black and from the wrong side of the tracks - was convicted of the murders and sits on death row, though he always maintained his innocence. With his execution only weeks away, his devoted sister, insisting she has spotted Sarah at a local gas station, hires PI Roxane Weary to look again at the case.
Reeling from the recent death of her cop father, Roxane finds herself drawn to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she thinks she's linked Sarah's disappearance to one of her father's unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl. Despite her self-destructive tendencies, Roxane starts to hope that maybe she can save Brad's life and her own.
With echoes of Sue Grafton, Dennis Lehane and the hit podcast Serial, The Last Place You Look is the gripping debut of both a bold new voice and character.
Reeling from the recent death of her cop father, Roxane finds herself drawn to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she thinks she's linked Sarah's disappearance to one of her father's unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl. Despite her self-destructive tendencies, Roxane starts to hope that maybe she can save Brad's life and her own.
With echoes of Sue Grafton, Dennis Lehane and the hit podcast Serial, The Last Place You Look is the gripping debut of both a bold new voice and character.
323 pages, Hardcover
First published June 13, 2017
824 people are currently reading
15783 people want to read
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May 26, 2017
This is exactly how I like my mysteries. It's a shame mediocre books like Into the Water will soar the charts this year, when books like this probably won't get the attention they deserve.
The Last Place You Look follows private investigator - Roxane Weary - as she attempts to solve a fifteen-year-old case and, possibly, save an innocent man from death row. It doesn't look good; in fact, the guy looks guilty as sin, but Roxane needs the PI money. However, her digging into small town secrets and a buried past unearth something bigger than she'd ever imagined. It's just so damn compelling.
The real strength of this book is Roxane herself. I adore mystery/thrillers that make you care about the investigator and their private life just as much as you care about the whodunnit. Roxane is bisexual and juggling two unhealthy relationships, one with a man and the other with a woman. She also has a drinking problem that is starting to affect her work.
Roxane's messy, imperfect life makes her all the more interesting. She's set up as someone I would like to read more about - not just to see her solve crimes and get her hands dirty, but because I care about her. I'm really glad to hear there are more books planned for this series.
Some of the reveals are not difficult to guess, but I've said this maybe a hundred times: the best mysteries are those where it doesn't matter if you work out who did it. And here, it doesn't matter. The story stands strong without leaning heavily on its reveals; it is so much more than its outcome.
So if you like small town mysteries, charmingly screwed-up private investigators, cases that expand and get bigger and bigger, and a touch of weird phone calls and creepy houses, I would highly recommend this book.
Tana French aside, it's easily the best mystery/thriller I've read in a while.
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The Last Place You Look follows private investigator - Roxane Weary - as she attempts to solve a fifteen-year-old case and, possibly, save an innocent man from death row. It doesn't look good; in fact, the guy looks guilty as sin, but Roxane needs the PI money. However, her digging into small town secrets and a buried past unearth something bigger than she'd ever imagined. It's just so damn compelling.
The real strength of this book is Roxane herself. I adore mystery/thrillers that make you care about the investigator and their private life just as much as you care about the whodunnit. Roxane is bisexual and juggling two unhealthy relationships, one with a man and the other with a woman. She also has a drinking problem that is starting to affect her work.
Roxane's messy, imperfect life makes her all the more interesting. She's set up as someone I would like to read more about - not just to see her solve crimes and get her hands dirty, but because I care about her. I'm really glad to hear there are more books planned for this series.
Some of the reveals are not difficult to guess, but I've said this maybe a hundred times: the best mysteries are those where it doesn't matter if you work out who did it. And here, it doesn't matter. The story stands strong without leaning heavily on its reveals; it is so much more than its outcome.
So if you like small town mysteries, charmingly screwed-up private investigators, cases that expand and get bigger and bigger, and a touch of weird phone calls and creepy houses, I would highly recommend this book.
Tana French aside, it's easily the best mystery/thriller I've read in a while.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
June 1, 2022
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES!!
i added some pictures from her recent book-signing to the end of this, if you are interested in seeing what she looks like reading a book!
my interview with ms. lepionka is live NOW! check it out:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a...
(and be sure to click those links so you can see her give a demonstration in lock-picking!)
My father always had a drink in his hand. It was part of him, like his broad shoulders or his temper or his antifreeze-blue eyes. It was the catalyst to every good time and every bad time he ever had. It was a magnifying glass he put himself under, revealing the truth of him. It was the only thing we had in common, the only thing we ever agreed on.
this is an unexpectedly strong debut.
debut novels are always a risk: synopses are written with the express purpose of enticing a reader, and blurbs are often the result of author friendships or other writers in the publisher's stable doing a favor for the team, and i usually doubt their sincerity. so, even though the wonderful james renner blurbed this book enthusiastically, i went into this a wary reader.
part of my apprehension was because i wasn't in love with the cover (i'm totally shallow, i know), but also because of the character. going into it knowing she was a bisexual private investigator with emotional damage and a drinking problem, i worried that it would be:
A) a clichéd genderswap of the noir archetype - sam spade in a skirt.
B) romantic suspense heavy on the romance (or at least on the intercoursing), light on the crime aspect.
C) some sort of lisbeth salander nonsense - a loose cannon of a woman operating outside of the law, defined by casual sex and violence with no emotional depth other than generic damage.
but it is not even one of those things.
i've read so many crime fiction/psych suspense novels this year featuring female investigators, whether professional or of the amateur sleuth variety, and nearly every one of them has been flat or stock in nature. which is fine for someone like me who can focus on the story aspect of a book even if it has weak characters, but is still a little disappointing. the only one i've read recently that came across as a real flesh-and-blood woman was conway in tana french's The Trespasser. but now i can add roxane weary to that tally. the two definitely wouldn't be friends if they met at some mystery novel character convention, but they would absolutely respect each other. for lepionka to have succeeded in both story and character her first time out is very encouraging for the future of her career.
sure, roxane has daddy issues, which can be a cliché in the "female in a traditionally male-dominated profession" character type, but her cop father was a complicated, near-legendary man, and his recent death in the line of duty left many people carrying the weight of issues - his wife, his sons, his former partner, and others with whom he'd worked in his 38 years on the force; people who revered him, despite his gruff, unfuzzy nature.
roxane and her brother andrew, in particular, find themselves in the same emotionally conflicted place:
"I think… that after losing Dad, you just don't want to pick back up and keep going."
I didn't respond right away. Then I said, "That's not true."
"It is."
"Why?"
"You're scared. That it would mean you're as over it as you're going to get."
I swallowed my second shot and thought about that. Neither of us had a good relationship with Frank, but that didn't make it any easier. In fact, it might've made it worse. "Aren't you?" I said.
"Roxane, I'm fucking terrified."
roxane became a private investigator despite her father's feelings on the matter, and she's very good at what she does. however, after his death she's been hitting the bottle harder than usual; wallowing in angry grief and not at her professional best when her brother matt sends a client her way; a woman named danielle stockton - the sister of a man who has been on death row for fifteen years after allegedly killing his girlfriend sarah's parents, and presumably sarah as well, who went missing the same night. danielle swears she saw sarah the other day, and needs someone to track her down, and soon, since brad's execution date has just been scheduled and she only has two months to prove his innocence. the police have plenty of evidence incriminating brad, and are unwilling to reopen the investigation, so danielle is desperate for assistance outside the police force.
desperation gets you roxane weary, struggling to cope even without the stress of investigating a case everyone considers solved, especially when she discovers a connection between sarah's disappearance and one of her father's cold cases.
already, the book has plenty to keep the reader interested - the ticking clock, the compromised sleuth, the shadow of her father as she follows in his footsteps… there's also excellent dramatic friction between roxane and the local police force, who do not want her investigating this matter. belmont, ohio is a town 13 sq. miles in size, where the police have little to do apart from responding to smalltown complaints, as roxane discovers when she gets herself a police scanner:
One thing was immediately clear: people in Belmont called the cops a lot.
Even shortly after ten in the morning, there were complaints about noise, about traffic jams at afternoon kindergarten drop-off at the Montessori school, about a suspicious individual entering a neighbor's house.
("I advised the caller that the individual was actually the neighbor, wearing a new coat.")
the cops don't want one of their few "big" cases undermined, and they have a professional disdain for private investigators, who although licensed, are not part of their blue family. roxane is dismissed as a pest; an amateur, despite her impressive track record.
this is literary crime fiction; it's not the kind of book that ends with a cliffhanger or a huge action sequence at every chapter's end, nor is there any skimping on character development. it's a more mature, steadily-paced novel that borrows elements from the noir sensibility without aping its stiff and stylized tone. this is noir with curves.*
the investigation process is handled well - the case unfolds unpredictably but not unrealistically. there are plenty of red herrings and misleading clues causing roxane to make some missteps and the reader is locked right in it with her. she does indeed prove to be an excellent investigator without coming across as a contrived mastermind solving the case without breaking a sweat. she's smart, but she's not infallible, and she makes many mistakes and errors in judgment along the way, but she's far from bumbling. even better - she gets hangovers and suffers like a human does, instead of just bouncing back to work the next day like some superhero.
that's the kind of stuff that excites me as a reader, that she's a believable, human character, and even more refreshing, she reads like a real woman instead of some neutered or hypermasculine figure. she's certainly not girly, but she's a woman, psychologically fleshed-out with a complex personal life full of self-sabotage and discomfort with emotional intimacy.
i loved the relationship between roxane and her father's former partner tom, and even more so her relationship with her brother andrew, which felt so damn genuine in its mix of respect and familial protectiveness.
"Roxane, you're a grown-ass woman and you can do whatever you want," he said, "but you're also my baby sister and I worry about you."
and yes - she has both a male and a female lover, but there's no gratuitous sex slapped in just to keep the reader distracted from a ho-hum crime plot, nor is her life some series of anonymous hookups. both relationships matter to her; they provide something essential to her, flawed as both relationships are.
The night of the funeral had been a protest fuck, an act of defiance. But we'd seen each other quite a few times in the nine months since. There was nothing to it, just stress relief, pain relief, all of the above. But I still needed those things.
and her need is deeper than she allows herself to admit.
a firecracker of a debut. and not one of those pussy little sparklers you give to kids -it's just an all-around excellent piece of crime fiction, and i'm hoping lepionka returns to this character in future books, because she's a breath of fresh air in a sea of half-assed, forgettable female sleuths.
also, i simply must applaud her taste in food, because a hot dog topped with sriracha cream cheese and Fritos and a side of Tater Tots sounds like something i need to be eating right now and also every night forever.
* i wish i could say that it is like megan abbott's excellent girlnoir, because comparisons are good for excitement-generating, but it's not. it's great in its own way, but abbott sticks to the noir tradition more formally, while giving it her own spin.
***********************************************
kristen is delighted to be reading her book at bluestockings here in nyfc
as she coquettishly flips her hair at her adoring fans
and now we are best friends!
and then i make her spin the cube, as all visitors must before they are allowed to leave
i am so excited for the second book!!
***********************************************
a high four that might even turn into a five once i give it a second pass for review purposes. which review i've been dillydallying with all week, so it should happen soon. but for now - definitely one for your to-read list. sez this lady.
come to my blog!
i added some pictures from her recent book-signing to the end of this, if you are interested in seeing what she looks like reading a book!
my interview with ms. lepionka is live NOW! check it out:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a...
(and be sure to click those links so you can see her give a demonstration in lock-picking!)
My father always had a drink in his hand. It was part of him, like his broad shoulders or his temper or his antifreeze-blue eyes. It was the catalyst to every good time and every bad time he ever had. It was a magnifying glass he put himself under, revealing the truth of him. It was the only thing we had in common, the only thing we ever agreed on.
this is an unexpectedly strong debut.
debut novels are always a risk: synopses are written with the express purpose of enticing a reader, and blurbs are often the result of author friendships or other writers in the publisher's stable doing a favor for the team, and i usually doubt their sincerity. so, even though the wonderful james renner blurbed this book enthusiastically, i went into this a wary reader.
part of my apprehension was because i wasn't in love with the cover (i'm totally shallow, i know), but also because of the character. going into it knowing she was a bisexual private investigator with emotional damage and a drinking problem, i worried that it would be:
A) a clichéd genderswap of the noir archetype - sam spade in a skirt.
B) romantic suspense heavy on the romance (or at least on the intercoursing), light on the crime aspect.
C) some sort of lisbeth salander nonsense - a loose cannon of a woman operating outside of the law, defined by casual sex and violence with no emotional depth other than generic damage.
but it is not even one of those things.
i've read so many crime fiction/psych suspense novels this year featuring female investigators, whether professional or of the amateur sleuth variety, and nearly every one of them has been flat or stock in nature. which is fine for someone like me who can focus on the story aspect of a book even if it has weak characters, but is still a little disappointing. the only one i've read recently that came across as a real flesh-and-blood woman was conway in tana french's The Trespasser. but now i can add roxane weary to that tally. the two definitely wouldn't be friends if they met at some mystery novel character convention, but they would absolutely respect each other. for lepionka to have succeeded in both story and character her first time out is very encouraging for the future of her career.
sure, roxane has daddy issues, which can be a cliché in the "female in a traditionally male-dominated profession" character type, but her cop father was a complicated, near-legendary man, and his recent death in the line of duty left many people carrying the weight of issues - his wife, his sons, his former partner, and others with whom he'd worked in his 38 years on the force; people who revered him, despite his gruff, unfuzzy nature.
roxane and her brother andrew, in particular, find themselves in the same emotionally conflicted place:
"I think… that after losing Dad, you just don't want to pick back up and keep going."
I didn't respond right away. Then I said, "That's not true."
"It is."
"Why?"
"You're scared. That it would mean you're as over it as you're going to get."
I swallowed my second shot and thought about that. Neither of us had a good relationship with Frank, but that didn't make it any easier. In fact, it might've made it worse. "Aren't you?" I said.
"Roxane, I'm fucking terrified."
roxane became a private investigator despite her father's feelings on the matter, and she's very good at what she does. however, after his death she's been hitting the bottle harder than usual; wallowing in angry grief and not at her professional best when her brother matt sends a client her way; a woman named danielle stockton - the sister of a man who has been on death row for fifteen years after allegedly killing his girlfriend sarah's parents, and presumably sarah as well, who went missing the same night. danielle swears she saw sarah the other day, and needs someone to track her down, and soon, since brad's execution date has just been scheduled and she only has two months to prove his innocence. the police have plenty of evidence incriminating brad, and are unwilling to reopen the investigation, so danielle is desperate for assistance outside the police force.
desperation gets you roxane weary, struggling to cope even without the stress of investigating a case everyone considers solved, especially when she discovers a connection between sarah's disappearance and one of her father's cold cases.
already, the book has plenty to keep the reader interested - the ticking clock, the compromised sleuth, the shadow of her father as she follows in his footsteps… there's also excellent dramatic friction between roxane and the local police force, who do not want her investigating this matter. belmont, ohio is a town 13 sq. miles in size, where the police have little to do apart from responding to smalltown complaints, as roxane discovers when she gets herself a police scanner:
One thing was immediately clear: people in Belmont called the cops a lot.
Even shortly after ten in the morning, there were complaints about noise, about traffic jams at afternoon kindergarten drop-off at the Montessori school, about a suspicious individual entering a neighbor's house.
("I advised the caller that the individual was actually the neighbor, wearing a new coat.")
the cops don't want one of their few "big" cases undermined, and they have a professional disdain for private investigators, who although licensed, are not part of their blue family. roxane is dismissed as a pest; an amateur, despite her impressive track record.
this is literary crime fiction; it's not the kind of book that ends with a cliffhanger or a huge action sequence at every chapter's end, nor is there any skimping on character development. it's a more mature, steadily-paced novel that borrows elements from the noir sensibility without aping its stiff and stylized tone. this is noir with curves.*
the investigation process is handled well - the case unfolds unpredictably but not unrealistically. there are plenty of red herrings and misleading clues causing roxane to make some missteps and the reader is locked right in it with her. she does indeed prove to be an excellent investigator without coming across as a contrived mastermind solving the case without breaking a sweat. she's smart, but she's not infallible, and she makes many mistakes and errors in judgment along the way, but she's far from bumbling. even better - she gets hangovers and suffers like a human does, instead of just bouncing back to work the next day like some superhero.
that's the kind of stuff that excites me as a reader, that she's a believable, human character, and even more refreshing, she reads like a real woman instead of some neutered or hypermasculine figure. she's certainly not girly, but she's a woman, psychologically fleshed-out with a complex personal life full of self-sabotage and discomfort with emotional intimacy.
i loved the relationship between roxane and her father's former partner tom, and even more so her relationship with her brother andrew, which felt so damn genuine in its mix of respect and familial protectiveness.
"Roxane, you're a grown-ass woman and you can do whatever you want," he said, "but you're also my baby sister and I worry about you."
and yes - she has both a male and a female lover, but there's no gratuitous sex slapped in just to keep the reader distracted from a ho-hum crime plot, nor is her life some series of anonymous hookups. both relationships matter to her; they provide something essential to her, flawed as both relationships are.
The night of the funeral had been a protest fuck, an act of defiance. But we'd seen each other quite a few times in the nine months since. There was nothing to it, just stress relief, pain relief, all of the above. But I still needed those things.
and her need is deeper than she allows herself to admit.
a firecracker of a debut. and not one of those pussy little sparklers you give to kids -it's just an all-around excellent piece of crime fiction, and i'm hoping lepionka returns to this character in future books, because she's a breath of fresh air in a sea of half-assed, forgettable female sleuths.
also, i simply must applaud her taste in food, because a hot dog topped with sriracha cream cheese and Fritos and a side of Tater Tots sounds like something i need to be eating right now and also every night forever.
* i wish i could say that it is like megan abbott's excellent girlnoir, because comparisons are good for excitement-generating, but it's not. it's great in its own way, but abbott sticks to the noir tradition more formally, while giving it her own spin.
***********************************************
kristen is delighted to be reading her book at bluestockings here in nyfc
as she coquettishly flips her hair at her adoring fans
and now we are best friends!
and then i make her spin the cube, as all visitors must before they are allowed to leave
i am so excited for the second book!!
***********************************************
a high four that might even turn into a five once i give it a second pass for review purposes. which review i've been dillydallying with all week, so it should happen soon. but for now - definitely one for your to-read list. sez this lady.
come to my blog!
June 9, 2017
“Matt said you find things. For a living.”
Isn’t it peculiar how the first line of a book can make or break it for you? As soon as I read those words I knew this novel and I would get along just fine. While I had every intention of just dipping my toes in and slowly making my way through the story, that isn’t exactly what happened. I was immediately gripped by Roxane and her unconventional methods, and when I found out fellow blogger Annie @ The Misstery was also reading this, we decided to hunker down together and binge the entire book in less than 12 hours. Needless to say, this was an arresting debut that managed to be equal parts plot and character driven.
“No one’s ever lost forever.”
-Amanda Palmer
I can see why readers are hesitant to jump in at the beginning of yet another new series. It may be just a Chelsea thing, but I’ve noticed that out of the copious amount of detective crime series I’ve begun, I only continue past the first book with about 30%, and further more I only continue past book three about 10% of the time. All that to say, Roxane Weary has the great potential to be a part of that glorious 10%. How often does such a diverse novel of the mystery/suspense/thriller genre come about? Our leading lady is a bisexual private investigator who is looking for the only possible witness to free a black man who has been wrongly placed on death row for the murder of his girlfriend’s parents. We get an insight not only to the case at hand, but into Roxane’s private life and the events that have shaped her into the person she is in the present.
I’m assuming this series will run similar to other crime fiction where we focus on a single case per installment, and I felt this first one was handled really well. I truly didn’t have the ending figured out until the big reveal, and while that was a huge bonus, it wasn’t even my favorite part of the book. The reason I’ll be coming back to read more from Lepionka is for her ability to craft characters that come alive off the page; I was fully invested in Roxane’s personal life, whether that be with her family or either of her two love interests. My only minor issue was that I found it a little distracting to have to follow both potential relationships right off the bat. If I’m being honest though, I can’t figure out a better way to have written them in than the way the author chose to, so I’m not entirely sure my concerns are valid. Otherwise, I literally couldn’t get enough of this book. I was completely consumed by the story and found myself stuttering and whining at the close of the story that I didn’t immediately have a following book to continue on with.
Chances are you’re reading this because you too are a fan of crime fiction of the procedural type. I can also bet that you are growing weary of the stale, ritualistic series that lull you to sleep and make you rethink why you keep picking these books up. My answer: you pick them up so that you can find gems like this among the muck and mess. If you are looking for a fresh breath of unique writing in a genre that can lose your loyalty quickly, look no further. This book has just about everything you could want and can satisfy even the pickiest of mystery readers, while also establishing a foundation of being so much more than simply a decent twist. With deeply relatable characters and a speedy plot, I’d highly recommend The Last Place You Look to all readers of the genre, whether you are a seasoned vet or a newbie dipping your toes for the first time. Please get to writing Kristen; we need more!
*Many thanks to the author and Little K for providing my copy; it was a pleasure to provide my honest thoughts.
“No one’s ever lost forever.”
-Amanda Palmer
I can see why readers are hesitant to jump in at the beginning of yet another new series. It may be just a Chelsea thing, but I’ve noticed that out of the copious amount of detective crime series I’ve begun, I only continue past the first book with about 30%, and further more I only continue past book three about 10% of the time. All that to say, Roxane Weary has the great potential to be a part of that glorious 10%. How often does such a diverse novel of the mystery/suspense/thriller genre come about? Our leading lady is a bisexual private investigator who is looking for the only possible witness to free a black man who has been wrongly placed on death row for the murder of his girlfriend’s parents. We get an insight not only to the case at hand, but into Roxane’s private life and the events that have shaped her into the person she is in the present.
I’m assuming this series will run similar to other crime fiction where we focus on a single case per installment, and I felt this first one was handled really well. I truly didn’t have the ending figured out until the big reveal, and while that was a huge bonus, it wasn’t even my favorite part of the book. The reason I’ll be coming back to read more from Lepionka is for her ability to craft characters that come alive off the page; I was fully invested in Roxane’s personal life, whether that be with her family or either of her two love interests. My only minor issue was that I found it a little distracting to have to follow both potential relationships right off the bat. If I’m being honest though, I can’t figure out a better way to have written them in than the way the author chose to, so I’m not entirely sure my concerns are valid. Otherwise, I literally couldn’t get enough of this book. I was completely consumed by the story and found myself stuttering and whining at the close of the story that I didn’t immediately have a following book to continue on with.
Chances are you’re reading this because you too are a fan of crime fiction of the procedural type. I can also bet that you are growing weary of the stale, ritualistic series that lull you to sleep and make you rethink why you keep picking these books up. My answer: you pick them up so that you can find gems like this among the muck and mess. If you are looking for a fresh breath of unique writing in a genre that can lose your loyalty quickly, look no further. This book has just about everything you could want and can satisfy even the pickiest of mystery readers, while also establishing a foundation of being so much more than simply a decent twist. With deeply relatable characters and a speedy plot, I’d highly recommend The Last Place You Look to all readers of the genre, whether you are a seasoned vet or a newbie dipping your toes for the first time. Please get to writing Kristen; we need more!
*Many thanks to the author and Little K for providing my copy; it was a pleasure to provide my honest thoughts.
May 30, 2017
This is an atmospheric and stunning crime fiction debut set in Columbus, Ohio. PI Roxane Weary has a gift for finding things, but hasn't had a job for a while. Her brother, Matt, sends Danielle Stockton to Roxane. Danielle is the sister of Brad, who is on death row for the murder of Garrett and Elaine Cook, and is suspected of the murder of Sarah Cook, his girlfriend. However, Brad will not have a bad word said about Sarah, even if it could save his life. Danielle is convinced she has seen Sarah at a gas station recently and she wants Roxane to find evidence that will clear Brad, but time is running out.
Roxane's father, Frank, a cop, has recently died, she is griefstricken but full of conflicting emotions and it is beyond her capabilities to talk about her relationship with her father and what he meant to her. Her unresolved feelings bring forth anger and hostility to those around her, including her family. She is hitting the bottle too frequently in her attempts to cope and her personal life is a car crash revolving around a woman who is no good for her and having sex with Tom, Frank's partner, which ends. Tom, though is always there for Roxane, despite having a new partner, Pam. Roxane struggles to find any evidence of Sarah being at the gas station and instead looks at the case from a different angle, and finds stab victim Mallory Evans with a similar MO. She discovers that this was an unsolved case for her father. The Belmont police are unhappy that she is looking into Brad and Mallory's case, and go to inordinate lengths to run her out of the area. Another body is discovered and another young local girl goes missing. Roxane is tenacious and determined, but can she find the missing young woman, solve her father's old case and save Brad?
This is a top notch crime thriller, with a compelling central character in Roxane. Roxane is a deeply flawed character, having to pick herself up from drunken blackouts, but I rooted for her and wanted her to deal with her demons. She eventually comes closer to achieving this by working the Brad investigation and by her close, if fractious, relationships with Tom and her family. I also loved Roxane's positive relationship with the young Shelby. I am really looking forward to reading the next book in the series. A brilliant read that I highly recommend. Thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.
Roxane's father, Frank, a cop, has recently died, she is griefstricken but full of conflicting emotions and it is beyond her capabilities to talk about her relationship with her father and what he meant to her. Her unresolved feelings bring forth anger and hostility to those around her, including her family. She is hitting the bottle too frequently in her attempts to cope and her personal life is a car crash revolving around a woman who is no good for her and having sex with Tom, Frank's partner, which ends. Tom, though is always there for Roxane, despite having a new partner, Pam. Roxane struggles to find any evidence of Sarah being at the gas station and instead looks at the case from a different angle, and finds stab victim Mallory Evans with a similar MO. She discovers that this was an unsolved case for her father. The Belmont police are unhappy that she is looking into Brad and Mallory's case, and go to inordinate lengths to run her out of the area. Another body is discovered and another young local girl goes missing. Roxane is tenacious and determined, but can she find the missing young woman, solve her father's old case and save Brad?
This is a top notch crime thriller, with a compelling central character in Roxane. Roxane is a deeply flawed character, having to pick herself up from drunken blackouts, but I rooted for her and wanted her to deal with her demons. She eventually comes closer to achieving this by working the Brad investigation and by her close, if fractious, relationships with Tom and her family. I also loved Roxane's positive relationship with the young Shelby. I am really looking forward to reading the next book in the series. A brilliant read that I highly recommend. Thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.
August 12, 2017
This is one of those books where you want the answers now!
I did have an idea of some things that were going on when some other certain things started to happen. Don't you just love my meanderings =)
Roxane is a PI and she's hired by Danielle who is the sister of a man on death row, Brad Stockton. Supposedly, 15 years-ago he killed his girlfriends parents and the said girlfriend, Sarah Cook, disappeared. No one knows what happened to her. But there was some evidence against Brad that sealed his deal. He was just a young kid and had no idea what was going on.
Roxane's father was a cop and he had died recently. She was still getting over this and would spend some time with her mom and brothers from time to time. It was kinda funny when they were all together. Made me think of family times with my grandparents.
Anyway, Roxane goes through some of her dads old case files and she finds some stuff on Brad and Sarah. She also finds some other things that are very curious, very curious indeed. There are other things that are linked to people. Geez, I want to tell y'all some stuff so bad but I can't, I want you to read them yourself.
This book has a great story line, a sadistic person that is off their nut, drinking, slight sexual situations with a guy and girl that are both cared for (not at the same time!), and just a really sad story all around when it comes to the end and everything is revealed.
I enjoyed it and I think other mystery peeps will too =)
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
I did have an idea of some things that were going on when some other certain things started to happen. Don't you just love my meanderings =)
Roxane is a PI and she's hired by Danielle who is the sister of a man on death row, Brad Stockton. Supposedly, 15 years-ago he killed his girlfriends parents and the said girlfriend, Sarah Cook, disappeared. No one knows what happened to her. But there was some evidence against Brad that sealed his deal. He was just a young kid and had no idea what was going on.
Roxane's father was a cop and he had died recently. She was still getting over this and would spend some time with her mom and brothers from time to time. It was kinda funny when they were all together. Made me think of family times with my grandparents.
Anyway, Roxane goes through some of her dads old case files and she finds some stuff on Brad and Sarah. She also finds some other things that are very curious, very curious indeed. There are other things that are linked to people. Geez, I want to tell y'all some stuff so bad but I can't, I want you to read them yourself.
This book has a great story line, a sadistic person that is off their nut, drinking, slight sexual situations with a guy and girl that are both cared for (not at the same time!), and just a really sad story all around when it comes to the end and everything is revealed.
I enjoyed it and I think other mystery peeps will too =)
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
April 13, 2017
Wow, I needed that. This one has me rethinking ratings I have given to other recent Thriller type reads. I mean whoa, it blew them to hell out of the water.
Meet Roxane Weary, private investigator still struggling with the death of her cop father, struggles that she drowns in whiskey and then accepts a case that involves finding evidence of innocence of her client’s brother, Brad Stockton, currently cooling his heels on death row but the date of execution has been set and time is running out for Brad.
The evidence comes in the form of Brad’s one time girlfriend Sarah, whose parents murder he has been found guilty of committing. Danielle, Roxane’s client believes she saw Sarah recently at a gas station. Sarah has been missing since the night of her parents murder and is for most practical purposes considered deceased. If Brad knows Sarah’s current whereabouts he is not talking.
Roxane is having a hard enough time dealing with her own issues: that include of course her Dad and her Mom and brothers, her Father’s one time partner Tom with whom she is intimate as well as a past girlfriend who seems to enjoy messing with Roxane’s head. Add in a missing girl who has been just that, missing, lo these many years and a local small town police force who see no point in Roxane’s investigation into an old murder that has already been solved. They are much less than helpful.
Roxane is the star of this show. You cannot help but love her and root for her, perhaps because she reads as so perfectly flawed, so wonderfully fallible and damn human. Her personal life is in chaos and Roxane does not appear to be in control. She drinks, blacks out and puts herself in one compromising position after another as she trips around attempting to validate her client’s claim, but now another young woman that Roxane has met recently through her search, suddenly goes missing. The stakes could not be higher and Roxane is stumbling big time. And Brad’s clock? Still ticking.
I did it, I stumbled right along with Roxane and despite her alcoholic daze, foolish blunders, wrong assumptions and poor choices I was rooting for her to hold her personal demons at bay long enough to get a grip.
I'm just going to say it. I loved the way this ended, an all round success.
And yes, I would do it again in a heartbeat. A Full Woot!
I owe a huge word of thanks to karen brissette for first putting this on my radar and then facilitating an electronic arc of this novel. I would also like to thank Shailyn Tavella of Minotaur books and NetGalley.
The Last Place You Look releases June 13, 2017. You do not want to miss this one.
Read karen's review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Meet Roxane Weary, private investigator still struggling with the death of her cop father, struggles that she drowns in whiskey and then accepts a case that involves finding evidence of innocence of her client’s brother, Brad Stockton, currently cooling his heels on death row but the date of execution has been set and time is running out for Brad.
The evidence comes in the form of Brad’s one time girlfriend Sarah, whose parents murder he has been found guilty of committing. Danielle, Roxane’s client believes she saw Sarah recently at a gas station. Sarah has been missing since the night of her parents murder and is for most practical purposes considered deceased. If Brad knows Sarah’s current whereabouts he is not talking.
Roxane is having a hard enough time dealing with her own issues: that include of course her Dad and her Mom and brothers, her Father’s one time partner Tom with whom she is intimate as well as a past girlfriend who seems to enjoy messing with Roxane’s head. Add in a missing girl who has been just that, missing, lo these many years and a local small town police force who see no point in Roxane’s investigation into an old murder that has already been solved. They are much less than helpful.
Roxane is the star of this show. You cannot help but love her and root for her, perhaps because she reads as so perfectly flawed, so wonderfully fallible and damn human. Her personal life is in chaos and Roxane does not appear to be in control. She drinks, blacks out and puts herself in one compromising position after another as she trips around attempting to validate her client’s claim, but now another young woman that Roxane has met recently through her search, suddenly goes missing. The stakes could not be higher and Roxane is stumbling big time. And Brad’s clock? Still ticking.
I did it, I stumbled right along with Roxane and despite her alcoholic daze, foolish blunders, wrong assumptions and poor choices I was rooting for her to hold her personal demons at bay long enough to get a grip.
I'm just going to say it. I loved the way this ended, an all round success.
And yes, I would do it again in a heartbeat. A Full Woot!
I owe a huge word of thanks to karen brissette for first putting this on my radar and then facilitating an electronic arc of this novel. I would also like to thank Shailyn Tavella of Minotaur books and NetGalley.
The Last Place You Look releases June 13, 2017. You do not want to miss this one.
Read karen's review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 27, 2017
4+ Stars.....Ok.....sign me up for this new series!
To start things off, I was feeling that touch of mystery-noir in the air, but nope (for me) mystery-crime-thriller is what we have here, and a protagonist with a complex and tumultuous life style.....to put it mildly.
Roxane Weary is a licensed P.I. She likes her whiskey neat (and plentiful) and her sexual preferences diversified.
She finds things for a living and happens to be in desperate need of a job so has taken on a difficult assignment to locate one long-time missing (but recently seen) Sarah Cook in hopes of saving a man's life on death row, but the search is complicated and her nosing around leads to big trouble and a shocking conclusion of a case for Roxane.....and the reader.
THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK is a debut novel and (IMHO) going to be one hell of a popular series. I know the direction I'd like her love interest to go (but probably won't???) and have a sneaking suspicion were going to find out even more about her father's in-the-line-of-duty demise. As for Roxane's family...they're an interesting one, as is her relationship with them. Can't wait to find out more!
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
March 2, 2017
When Roxane Weary takes on a case to find a woman that's supposedly been dead for fifteen years to clear her incarcerated boyfriend's name before he's executed, she's in way over her head. Can Roxane put her alcohol problem and her pain over her father's death aside long enough to crack the case?
Every time I try to quit accepting ARCs, something like this falls into my lap. Thanks again, karen!
I've been out of the detective fiction game for the past few months for the most part. Once you read a couple hundred crime books, everything starts seeming the same. Then a gem like this comes along.
The Last Place You Look stars Roxane Weary, a woman reeling from her cop father's death, coping by drinking a small ocean of whiskey. Between an ex-lover named Catherine that continuously toys with her to her current companion, her deceased father's partner, Roxane's life is a train wreck. She's just the type of girl you can count on to keep a man from getting executed, right?
Roxane reminds me of some unholy offspring of George Pelecanos's Nick Stefanos and Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt. If only she spent as much time detecting as she did throwing back slugs of whiskey... I kid. I loved Roxane, from her complex relationships with her family members to her questionable taste in sex partners.
In between black out drunks, she finds time to get wrapped up in quite a case. What seems like one murder ages ago winds up being quite a bit more. Roxane goes through both physical and emotional wringers multiple times on the way to one of the better crime fiction endings I've read in a long time.
One of the hallmarks of a great crime book, for me, anyway, is when the author makes me feel like a rube when the big reveal comes. I thought I had the killer pegged really early but that turned out to be a read herring. I pondered the title while cooking dinner and still didn't tip to who the killer was. Well done, Kristen. Well done.
I don't have a single bad things to say about this book. I'm greatly looking forward to reading more of Roxane's drunken escapades in the future. Five out of five stars.
Every time I try to quit accepting ARCs, something like this falls into my lap. Thanks again, karen!
I've been out of the detective fiction game for the past few months for the most part. Once you read a couple hundred crime books, everything starts seeming the same. Then a gem like this comes along.
The Last Place You Look stars Roxane Weary, a woman reeling from her cop father's death, coping by drinking a small ocean of whiskey. Between an ex-lover named Catherine that continuously toys with her to her current companion, her deceased father's partner, Roxane's life is a train wreck. She's just the type of girl you can count on to keep a man from getting executed, right?
Roxane reminds me of some unholy offspring of George Pelecanos's Nick Stefanos and Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt. If only she spent as much time detecting as she did throwing back slugs of whiskey... I kid. I loved Roxane, from her complex relationships with her family members to her questionable taste in sex partners.
In between black out drunks, she finds time to get wrapped up in quite a case. What seems like one murder ages ago winds up being quite a bit more. Roxane goes through both physical and emotional wringers multiple times on the way to one of the better crime fiction endings I've read in a long time.
One of the hallmarks of a great crime book, for me, anyway, is when the author makes me feel like a rube when the big reveal comes. I thought I had the killer pegged really early but that turned out to be a read herring. I pondered the title while cooking dinner and still didn't tip to who the killer was. Well done, Kristen. Well done.
I don't have a single bad things to say about this book. I'm greatly looking forward to reading more of Roxane's drunken escapades in the future. Five out of five stars.
June 1, 2017
The Last Place You Look is book one in a dark and gritty mystery series driven by an extremely flawed, yet likable heroine.
Roxane Weary is dealing (or more like not dealing) with the aftermath her revered Police Officer father’s death. Roxane, a struggling PI, is barely holding it together, existing mostly in drunken states. She has pushed those who are closest to her away and is hanging on by thread.
When she takes on a case that seems hopeless, she doesn’t realize how it will change her life, as it brings her closer to her father and forces her to come to terms with who she is.
Roxane’s character is what makes this book shine. She is a strong, intelligent female protagonist, but she’s also supreme mess that I couldn’t help but root for. Not only is her personal and professional life a mess, her love life is equally messy and adds an interesting layer to her character.
I highly recommend The Last Place You Look-- Roxane’s character is intriguing and the mystery held my attention. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series and seeing how Roxane’s character develops.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Roxane Weary is dealing (or more like not dealing) with the aftermath her revered Police Officer father’s death. Roxane, a struggling PI, is barely holding it together, existing mostly in drunken states. She has pushed those who are closest to her away and is hanging on by thread.
When she takes on a case that seems hopeless, she doesn’t realize how it will change her life, as it brings her closer to her father and forces her to come to terms with who she is.
Roxane’s character is what makes this book shine. She is a strong, intelligent female protagonist, but she’s also supreme mess that I couldn’t help but root for. Not only is her personal and professional life a mess, her love life is equally messy and adds an interesting layer to her character.
I highly recommend The Last Place You Look-- Roxane’s character is intriguing and the mystery held my attention. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series and seeing how Roxane’s character develops.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
June 22, 2017
So, I can officially say I have a new series to enjoy! Yay and cheers to you Kristen Lepionka!
Roxane Weary reminds me of the bad ass detective that I loved Iris Ballard. Roxane is a strong, sassy, and sexy detective. Roxane is assigned a conflicting and heart breaking case that is intertwined to her personal life. What I loved is how Roxane was able to grow and move forward with her own heart ache by solving this case.
Roxane's father Frank was a cop who recently died and Roxane is full of conflicting emotions about coping with her fathers death. Roxane, unfortunately, has an extreme alcoholic problem and turns to the high of alcohol to cope with her sadness and anger.
Roxane is hired by Danielle who is the sister of a man on death row Brad Stockton. Brad was charged for supposedly killing his girlfriend Sarah's parents. But, no one can find Sarah and has been missing for 15 years. A knife was found in Brad's car that had the couples blood all over it. But, nothing can be that easy right?!!
The Last Place You Look is a dark and addicting thriller that leaves you wanting to find the answers now! It was a page turner and I loved our main character Roxane! I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Come on Kristen get to writing woman ;).
4 happy stars dance!! 👌I would definitely recommend if you are wanting to start a new series and are a thriller fan! :)
Roxane Weary reminds me of the bad ass detective that I loved Iris Ballard. Roxane is a strong, sassy, and sexy detective. Roxane is assigned a conflicting and heart breaking case that is intertwined to her personal life. What I loved is how Roxane was able to grow and move forward with her own heart ache by solving this case.
Roxane's father Frank was a cop who recently died and Roxane is full of conflicting emotions about coping with her fathers death. Roxane, unfortunately, has an extreme alcoholic problem and turns to the high of alcohol to cope with her sadness and anger.
Roxane is hired by Danielle who is the sister of a man on death row Brad Stockton. Brad was charged for supposedly killing his girlfriend Sarah's parents. But, no one can find Sarah and has been missing for 15 years. A knife was found in Brad's car that had the couples blood all over it. But, nothing can be that easy right?!!
The Last Place You Look is a dark and addicting thriller that leaves you wanting to find the answers now! It was a page turner and I loved our main character Roxane! I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Come on Kristen get to writing woman ;).
4 happy stars dance!! 👌I would definitely recommend if you are wanting to start a new series and are a thriller fan! :)
December 31, 2019
4.50 Stars. For my last book of the year I was looking for a good mystery to read. This series has been on my radar for a while and I have been itching more recently to read this. I’m glad I picked this because I really enjoying it. It was the kind of book I could not stop reading. Thank goodness I had no work today or I would have been walking around like a zombie since I easily picked reading this over sleep. This is actually a debut for Lepionka which is even more impressive to me. She already writes like a seasoned author so it gives me high hope for the rest of the series.
I have loved mysteries since my Nancy Drew childhood days but my absolute favorite type of mysteries usually stars a hard-boiled and flawed private investigator. I like that PI’s can do the work cops can’t or won’t do and that they can get pretty close to crossing over the line since it ends up making for a more interesting story in my opinion. Luckily for me, Roxane Weary fits those points perfectly. She’s is a bit of a mess. She’s not quite at Micky Knight’s (J.M. Redmann) level but she has more issues than an early Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton) did. Roxane drinks too much, has trouble letting people close, and has very complicated family relationships, but she has a detective’s gut instinct and deep down she really cares about people. She was the kind of flawed character that I find really easy to like.
Since I mostly read/review lesfic I do want to say this doesn’t belong in that category. However, this book does get the LGBTQ tag. Roxane is bisexual and has relationships with both men and women. Both the m/f and wlw sex scenes where fade to black. I was not personally big on either character for Roxanne so I’m keeping my fingers crossed she will discover someone new in book 2.
When it came to the actually mystery, I was impressed. I had a guess of who the bad guy/girl was but I was wrong and had instead picked up on a red herring Lepionka put out. I normally have good luck guessing the criminal so I’m always happy when a mystery author can sneak one by me. While the books pace was a little slower at times, the book gradually kept ramping up and up. As a reader you started worrying about time, knowing the mystery need to be solved soon. For those reasons it added a bit of this slightly frantic but excited feeling to the book. It got your heart pumping a bit as the excitement kept building up to a satisfying story climax that all good mystery books should have.
If you are a mystery fan this is an easy book to recommend. It is really well done for a debut and just well done period. Books two and three are already out with a book four coming out in 2020. I’m really glad to know I have more of the series to read and I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready for more Roxane.
I have loved mysteries since my Nancy Drew childhood days but my absolute favorite type of mysteries usually stars a hard-boiled and flawed private investigator. I like that PI’s can do the work cops can’t or won’t do and that they can get pretty close to crossing over the line since it ends up making for a more interesting story in my opinion. Luckily for me, Roxane Weary fits those points perfectly. She’s is a bit of a mess. She’s not quite at Micky Knight’s (J.M. Redmann) level but she has more issues than an early Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton) did. Roxane drinks too much, has trouble letting people close, and has very complicated family relationships, but she has a detective’s gut instinct and deep down she really cares about people. She was the kind of flawed character that I find really easy to like.
Since I mostly read/review lesfic I do want to say this doesn’t belong in that category. However, this book does get the LGBTQ tag. Roxane is bisexual and has relationships with both men and women. Both the m/f and wlw sex scenes where fade to black. I was not personally big on either character for Roxanne so I’m keeping my fingers crossed she will discover someone new in book 2.
When it came to the actually mystery, I was impressed. I had a guess of who the bad guy/girl was but I was wrong and had instead picked up on a red herring Lepionka put out. I normally have good luck guessing the criminal so I’m always happy when a mystery author can sneak one by me. While the books pace was a little slower at times, the book gradually kept ramping up and up. As a reader you started worrying about time, knowing the mystery need to be solved soon. For those reasons it added a bit of this slightly frantic but excited feeling to the book. It got your heart pumping a bit as the excitement kept building up to a satisfying story climax that all good mystery books should have.
If you are a mystery fan this is an easy book to recommend. It is really well done for a debut and just well done period. Books two and three are already out with a book four coming out in 2020. I’m really glad to know I have more of the series to read and I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready for more Roxane.
March 7, 2018
Posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews
Thanks to karen for bringing this to my attention and making it possible for me to get a copy from NetGalley. Because I forgot my password and took too long to get a new one, I decided to grab it from the library instead. Amazingly, I was the first to get my hands on a brand-new copy. Curses to Trump and others who want to defund our public libraries!
Despite the high ratings for this story, I expected a conventional crime novel with a badass PI who could do no wrong. Roxane Weary is nowhere near that perfect. Though she’s smart and competent at her job, she drinks way too much and has difficulty with relationships. She’s also grieving the death of her cop father, a man Roxane had a stormy relationship with despite their likeness in character.
Roxane takes on a difficult case involving a missing teenager and her black boyfriend, Brad Stockton, whose time on death row is fast running out. What seems like a cut and dried case turns out to be far more complex and connected to an earlier case her father was involved in.
This story explores racism, small-town secrecy, and family relationships that are not so harmonious. It was easy to pick up and difficult to put down. I was ready to be disappointed at figuring out the villain so soon and instead encountered more twists and surprises. The tension and excitement became so overwhelming at times that I forgot to breathe!
I liked that Roxane was in a relationship with Tom, her deceased father’s former partner, and Catherine, a woman who drifts in and out of her life. Her bisexuality was very positively and realistically portrayed. It was organic, treated as one of many aspects of her life and not just added in for titillation. Roxane is not promiscuous, indecisive, or just going through a phase. Kudos to Kristen Lepionka for helping to dispel ugly myths about bisexuality and creating such a fascinating character.
Can’t wait to see where Roxane’s life will take her next.
Thanks to karen for bringing this to my attention and making it possible for me to get a copy from NetGalley. Because I forgot my password and took too long to get a new one, I decided to grab it from the library instead. Amazingly, I was the first to get my hands on a brand-new copy. Curses to Trump and others who want to defund our public libraries!
Despite the high ratings for this story, I expected a conventional crime novel with a badass PI who could do no wrong. Roxane Weary is nowhere near that perfect. Though she’s smart and competent at her job, she drinks way too much and has difficulty with relationships. She’s also grieving the death of her cop father, a man Roxane had a stormy relationship with despite their likeness in character.
Roxane takes on a difficult case involving a missing teenager and her black boyfriend, Brad Stockton, whose time on death row is fast running out. What seems like a cut and dried case turns out to be far more complex and connected to an earlier case her father was involved in.
This story explores racism, small-town secrecy, and family relationships that are not so harmonious. It was easy to pick up and difficult to put down. I was ready to be disappointed at figuring out the villain so soon and instead encountered more twists and surprises. The tension and excitement became so overwhelming at times that I forgot to breathe!
I liked that Roxane was in a relationship with Tom, her deceased father’s former partner, and Catherine, a woman who drifts in and out of her life. Her bisexuality was very positively and realistically portrayed. It was organic, treated as one of many aspects of her life and not just added in for titillation. Roxane is not promiscuous, indecisive, or just going through a phase. Kudos to Kristen Lepionka for helping to dispel ugly myths about bisexuality and creating such a fascinating character.
Can’t wait to see where Roxane’s life will take her next.
August 29, 2017
"After a while you get better at isolating it and shoving it into a compartment so it doesn't mess with you, after. But it never really gets easier, seeing what people do to each other."
This book was insane! I absolutely couldn't put it down!
Roxane Weary is a PI in Ohio - reeling from the death of her police officer father. She is hired as a desperate woman's last attempt to save her brother from death row.
Brad Stockton has been in prison for the last 15 years - accused of the murder of his girlfriend Sarah's parents - who has been missing since the murder.
Roxane as a character is an absolute mess. She is fiery, unstable and with a less than healthy whisky habit.
As she begins working on the case it stirs up a whole nest of other crimes and mysteries. Are they connected, and who is responsible? And when another girl goes missing, Roxane is running out of time to find her and to save Brad from his execution.
A non stop thriller full of twists! I loved it!
This book was insane! I absolutely couldn't put it down!
Roxane Weary is a PI in Ohio - reeling from the death of her police officer father. She is hired as a desperate woman's last attempt to save her brother from death row.
Brad Stockton has been in prison for the last 15 years - accused of the murder of his girlfriend Sarah's parents - who has been missing since the murder.
Roxane as a character is an absolute mess. She is fiery, unstable and with a less than healthy whisky habit.
As she begins working on the case it stirs up a whole nest of other crimes and mysteries. Are they connected, and who is responsible? And when another girl goes missing, Roxane is running out of time to find her and to save Brad from his execution.
A non stop thriller full of twists! I loved it!
July 1, 2018
3.4 Stars* (rounded down)
Roxane Weary has a job to do. She’s a PI and she has been hired to find Sarah Cook, who is presumed dead by the police, and has been missing for fifteen years. Sarah’s parents were brutally murdered the same night and Sarah’s boyfriend at the time, Brad Stockton was arrested for the crimes and is now on death row with only months left to live.
In order to find the truth about Sarah Cook, Rox goes on a wild goose chase, which leads her to finding other missing girls. These discoveries get her into lots of trouble - and boy is it a dangerous game that Roxane is playing, yet she can’t seem to stop. In this case, if she’s not careful, she is going to to do more than just get herself into trouble, she’s going to get hurt.
Rox is quick tempered, fiery and feisty. She is also hardened, extremely difficult and has a hard time letting people in. She lost her dad, a former cop, a year ago, and hasn’t been the same since. The only thing she has ever been good at, is finding things, just ask her brother.
“The Last Place You Look” is a quick, easy, enjoyable read. It is book one in the new Roxane Weary series - it kept my interest throughout I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with her character in book two!
Published on Goodreads n 7.1.18.
Roxane Weary has a job to do. She’s a PI and she has been hired to find Sarah Cook, who is presumed dead by the police, and has been missing for fifteen years. Sarah’s parents were brutally murdered the same night and Sarah’s boyfriend at the time, Brad Stockton was arrested for the crimes and is now on death row with only months left to live.
In order to find the truth about Sarah Cook, Rox goes on a wild goose chase, which leads her to finding other missing girls. These discoveries get her into lots of trouble - and boy is it a dangerous game that Roxane is playing, yet she can’t seem to stop. In this case, if she’s not careful, she is going to to do more than just get herself into trouble, she’s going to get hurt.
Rox is quick tempered, fiery and feisty. She is also hardened, extremely difficult and has a hard time letting people in. She lost her dad, a former cop, a year ago, and hasn’t been the same since. The only thing she has ever been good at, is finding things, just ask her brother.
“The Last Place You Look” is a quick, easy, enjoyable read. It is book one in the new Roxane Weary series - it kept my interest throughout I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with her character in book two!
Published on Goodreads n 7.1.18.
July 29, 2019
For those of you who feel lost since Sue Grafton died, and have yet to find another female P.I. to follow, let me suggest you try Kristen Lepionka’s Roxane Weary. Not because she’s just like Kinsey Milhone, because she isn’t—she’s not an orphan ex-cop, but the daughter of a cop, with two brothers and a mother for family—but because she is a memorable character in her own right, and her first adventure, The Last Place You Look, is (with the exception of The Big Sleep) the best first book in a series I have ever read. And believe me, I’ve read more than a few.
Roxane Weary, to put it mildly, is bit of a mess, and has been so ever since the death of her father, a Columbus policeman who was recently killed in the line of duty. She has been drinking too much (just like her old man), and not working at all—until her brother Matt finds her a client: a girl named Danielle, whose brother Kenny is on death row for killing his girlfriend Sarah and her family ten years ago. Sarah’s body was never found, and Danielle is certain she recently saw Sarah herself at a gas station in Belmont, Ohio, not far from the site of the murders. Roxane dismisses the gas station sighting as problematic, but soon she sees connections between Sarah and a few other missing young women. And there’s one other thing that makes her suspicious and makes her smell a cover-up: the Belmont police don’t want her around at all. Roxane persists, of course, and soon makes a discovery in the woods that breaks the case wide open, yet moves its solution even further away.
What I particularly liked about this book is that although Lepionka has a novelist’s eye for detail, an eye which displays itself in every description and metaphor, her novelist gift is used completely in the service of the mystery novel genre and its demands. There are no artsy paragraphs alternating with nuts-and-bolts exposition paragraphs—something you often see in immature genre fiction. No, here art and craft work together in unison, and the result is one hell of a book.
June 30, 2017
Teenager Sarah Cook disappeared fifteen years ago. The same night her parents were brutally murdered in their home in Ohio. Her boyfriend, Brad, was convicted with the murders and sits on death row. He has always maintained his innocence. His execution is only weeks away and his sister is insisting she spotted Sarah at a local gas station, so she hires a PI Roxane Weary to look into his case. Roxane's father had been a cop and she thinks she has linked Sarah's disappearance to one of her fathers unsolved murdered cases involving another teen girl.
This is quite a good debut novel. What starts as a missing persons case quickly something darker and so much more sinister. It's fast paced, tension filled and gripping from beginning to end. I can't wait to read more in the series.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Faber and Faber Ltd and the author Kirsten Lepionka for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is quite a good debut novel. What starts as a missing persons case quickly something darker and so much more sinister. It's fast paced, tension filled and gripping from beginning to end. I can't wait to read more in the series.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Faber and Faber Ltd and the author Kirsten Lepionka for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 30, 2017
“You know, maybe you could stand to be a little nicer, actually. You’re a girl. You have to be nice. But not too fucking nice. That’s what you have to do. Be nice but not too fucking nice.”
This was a pleasant surprise. One of the strongest mysteries I've read this year.
Roxane Weary has all the makings of an excellent PI in a series. She is messed up, complex, real, and has just the right amount of heart. It doesn't hurt that she is great at what she does. Roxane is bisexual, an alcoholic, and her cop father died nine months ago. I really, really enjoy her as a protagonist making me more than thrilled that there is a sequel.
Roxane's been a mess since her dad died making her strapped for cash. So when she gets a call out of the blue to look into a old case tied to a man on death row, she takes it. The caller wants Roxane to find a girl (Sarah Cook) who went missing fifteen years ago, the night her parents were brutally murdered and boyfriend (Brad) was arrested for the crime putting him on death row. No one has seen Sarah since that night, nor was a body found. Brad was convicted because the knife used in the murders was in the trunk of his car, but he insisted he didn't do it. Brad refused to allow his lawyers to offer Sarah as an alternate theory - that she would kill her parents and have run away.
But I thought that I didn’t have to decide about my father yet, that given enough time, the past would start to drop off the permanent record like a bad debt or a speeding ticket. I just wanted to wait. I thought there was time. But there wasn’t.
The more she looks into the case, the more it becomes difficult to let it go. Something isn't right. Roxane sees a connection to one of her dad's old cases. Can Roxane get past everything going on in her own life and solve not only Brad's case, but also her dad's?
There ends up being a few mysteries within the story. It's engaging, dark, and very well-written. I was surprised to learn that this is only Kristen Lepionka's debut. The small town setting is excellent. Certain twists aren't difficult to guess, but the story holds up. With a protagonist this strong, I'm okay with that.
If mysteries or thrillers are your thing, I'd highly recommend it.
September 27, 2018
2.5 stars, rounded up
It’s a good thing I read book two in this series before I undertook this one. I enjoyed book two. This one, not so much. I didn’t care for Roxanne and found the story less than impressive.
There’s a Jack Reacher feel to this story. One person up against a questionable police force just didn’t work for me.
It’s a good thing I read book two in this series before I undertook this one. I enjoyed book two. This one, not so much. I didn’t care for Roxanne and found the story less than impressive.
There’s a Jack Reacher feel to this story. One person up against a questionable police force just didn’t work for me.
February 9, 2017
The most enjoyable and well written book I've read for a long time - brilliant! Thoroughly recommended. private eye thriller about a terrible miscarriage of justice, with a protagonist I am v keen to see more of!
July 18, 2017
PI Roxane Weary is well known for being able to find lost things and missing people so when Danielle Stockton thinks she sees a missing girl, Sarah Cooke, who has brother Brad has been convicted of killing, she hires Roxane to find Sarah and get Brad off death row. Sarah disappeared 15 years ago, the night her parents were found murdered and Brad, her boyfriend was found guilty of all three murders. Danielle has never accepted that Brad would kill Sarah and her parents and believes if Sarah could be found then she could tell them what really happened that night.
This thriller is a bit of a slow boiler as Roxane sets out to find the girl Danielle saw and gets involved in looking into another case her Dad, a cop, was investigating before he died, involving another girl who went missing. It takes a while for the various threads to come together but once they do they lead to very tense and suspenseful finish. Roxane is an interesting character, still grieving for her Dad who died nine months before while on the job. She is bisexual and has problems with past and current lovers and frequently drinks too much. However, she is a determined investigator with a strong sense of justice and is tenacious in finding the truth. This is clearly intended to be the first of a series featuring Roxane so I look forward to the next instalment. 3.5★
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Faber and Faber for a copy of the book to read and review.
This thriller is a bit of a slow boiler as Roxane sets out to find the girl Danielle saw and gets involved in looking into another case her Dad, a cop, was investigating before he died, involving another girl who went missing. It takes a while for the various threads to come together but once they do they lead to very tense and suspenseful finish. Roxane is an interesting character, still grieving for her Dad who died nine months before while on the job. She is bisexual and has problems with past and current lovers and frequently drinks too much. However, she is a determined investigator with a strong sense of justice and is tenacious in finding the truth. This is clearly intended to be the first of a series featuring Roxane so I look forward to the next instalment. 3.5★
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Faber and Faber for a copy of the book to read and review.
July 3, 2017
Top notch Crime fiction right here, really excellent debut, totally engaging main protagonist and a story that is twistier than a pretzel but still entirely authentic and utterly believable. Absolutely bang on writing style that just perfectly tells a beautifully plotted story.
I read “The Last Place You Look” in a single afternoon, mostly it has to be said BECAUSE of main protagonist Roxane Weary (what a great name and totally suited to the character portrayed) who just had a wonderful world weariness about her, a strong and intriguing character voice and whilst the mystery element of the story was also brilliant it is Roxane that keeps you turning those pages.
I was impressed by how Kristen Lepionka managed to take that well worn plot device – a character who hits the bottle too hard – and turn it around from something that makes you sigh in annoyance to a really genuinely authentic character trait, encompassing that part of Roxane into the wider narrative in an immersive and clever way. I think that needs mentioning considering my propensity for having a moan about cliche plot devices – in The Last Place You Look it actually works. Huge points for that one.
On the mystery side the case of Brad Stockton is relevant and fascinating – what I really found excellent here was the fact or not of his guilt was not at all clear – therefore things remained unpredictable right up to that very last moment. Some of the best parts of the book came where Roxane was facing off against those who are determined that Brad IS guilty either because they truly believe it or because they are hiding something – the dialogue sparks, the interactions are solidly realistic and the author creates a real sense of tension and unease throughout the telling. The sense of place is also well realised – the whole thing is totally immersive, a real noir feel with a modern twist.
Overall just brilliant. Highly Recommended.
I read “The Last Place You Look” in a single afternoon, mostly it has to be said BECAUSE of main protagonist Roxane Weary (what a great name and totally suited to the character portrayed) who just had a wonderful world weariness about her, a strong and intriguing character voice and whilst the mystery element of the story was also brilliant it is Roxane that keeps you turning those pages.
I was impressed by how Kristen Lepionka managed to take that well worn plot device – a character who hits the bottle too hard – and turn it around from something that makes you sigh in annoyance to a really genuinely authentic character trait, encompassing that part of Roxane into the wider narrative in an immersive and clever way. I think that needs mentioning considering my propensity for having a moan about cliche plot devices – in The Last Place You Look it actually works. Huge points for that one.
On the mystery side the case of Brad Stockton is relevant and fascinating – what I really found excellent here was the fact or not of his guilt was not at all clear – therefore things remained unpredictable right up to that very last moment. Some of the best parts of the book came where Roxane was facing off against those who are determined that Brad IS guilty either because they truly believe it or because they are hiding something – the dialogue sparks, the interactions are solidly realistic and the author creates a real sense of tension and unease throughout the telling. The sense of place is also well realised – the whole thing is totally immersive, a real noir feel with a modern twist.
Overall just brilliant. Highly Recommended.
May 24, 2017
Roxane Weary is good at finding things. She always has been. So when she's hired by Brad Stockton's sister, Danielle, to find Brad's teenage girlfriend, Sarah, she doesn't think it will be a difficult case. Danielle is convinced she spotted Sarah at a gas station--despite the fact she disappeared fifteen years ago. Meanwhile, Brad is in jail--set to soon be executed--for the brutal murder of Sarah's parents the night Sarah disappeared; the prosecution also alleged that Brad killed Sarah as well. Brad did not put up much of a fight in his defense, but Danielle refuses to give up. Roxane quickly becomes caught up in Sarah's story and finds ties between her disappearance and other girls in the seemingly idyllic town of Belmont-- as well as connections to cases worked by her father, a police officer.
This is just a great book. It's easy to read and funny, albeit dark and sad at times. Roxane's dark, sarcastic humor is perfect. She gives off a Kinsey Millhone type vibe, if Kinsey was a functioning alcoholic with major Daddy issues. She's a complicated character (a complicated, real, female character - so refreshing!). She's bisexual (so wonderful to see reflected realistically in a novel). The other characters are well-formed and range from awful to sweet, but they support Roxane and the story perfectly.
As for the plot, it draws you immediately and keeps you constantly guessing, wondering what people know, who is telling the truth, and what's the actual story. I actually didn't figure this one out, so kudos to Lepionka. There are a few amazing "aha" moments that basically made me gasp. The town of Belmont is creepy and dark, and you'll find yourself completely wrapped up in its twisted, sad characters.
It looks like this is the first in a series, and I couldn't be happier; I can't wait to see where Roxane is headed next. Definitely recommend this one to mystery and thriller fans alike.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 06/13/2017.
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This is just a great book. It's easy to read and funny, albeit dark and sad at times. Roxane's dark, sarcastic humor is perfect. She gives off a Kinsey Millhone type vibe, if Kinsey was a functioning alcoholic with major Daddy issues. She's a complicated character (a complicated, real, female character - so refreshing!). She's bisexual (so wonderful to see reflected realistically in a novel). The other characters are well-formed and range from awful to sweet, but they support Roxane and the story perfectly.
As for the plot, it draws you immediately and keeps you constantly guessing, wondering what people know, who is telling the truth, and what's the actual story. I actually didn't figure this one out, so kudos to Lepionka. There are a few amazing "aha" moments that basically made me gasp. The town of Belmont is creepy and dark, and you'll find yourself completely wrapped up in its twisted, sad characters.
It looks like this is the first in a series, and I couldn't be happier; I can't wait to see where Roxane is headed next. Definitely recommend this one to mystery and thriller fans alike.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 06/13/2017.
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December 23, 2022
My Year of (Mostly) Mysterious Women continues with series fiction featuring women detectives. I’m avoiding police procedurals and standalone “women in peril'' thrillers to focus on ladies who are amateur sleuths. The Last Place You Look is my introduction to author Kristen Lepionka and her series featuring Roxane Weary. Published in 2017, this is the first novel I've read featuring a female private detective, so to call her "amateur" might get me into a staring contest with her. This book clicked boxes for me--Millennial protagonist, disaster prone protagonist, unique setting --though my attention did wane after 35% and it ended up being kind of average.
The story is the first person account of Roxane Weary, a thirty-four-year-old private detective in Columbus, Ohio. Known as someone who can find things, she receives a referral from her brother Matt, who has minimal confidence in her abilities but wants to impress a young woman named Danielle Stockton. Danielle's brother Bradford has been behind bars for fifteen years for apparently stabbing his girlfriend's white parents to death. Claiming innocence, he's set to be executed in two months. Brad's girlfriend Sarah Cook disappeared the night of the murders never to be seen again and Danielle believes she spotted her at a gas station in the nearby suburb of "Belmont."
Roxane is daughter of Frank Weary, a police detective shot and killed on duty a few months ago. She processes her grief through shots of Crown Royal and sex with her father's partner Tom Heitker with no strings attached. Brad's case looks hopeless. The murder weapon was found in his trunk, Sarah's aunt testified that her sister was afraid of him and Brad hasn't offered a much of a defense. But Roxane learns that her father investigated the unsolved murder of a teenager who went to high school with Sarah. She breaks into his study to browse his files and bogart his booze.
The air inside the small room was dusty and cold and smelled just like my father, like whiskey and Aqua Velva. One wall was mostly taken up by a particleboard desk, the front right corner going gummy from years of a tumbler of ice sitting in the same place. A big, nineties-era computer monitor occupied the desk, plus a scratch pad with a single, indecipherable word written on it in my father's hopeless handwriting. The other wall was lined with bookcases, haphazardly piled with random artifacts of his life: baseball glove, a framed picture of my grandparents, rows of cracked-spine Western paperbacks, records--mostly jazz, some in sleeves but some just stacked on top of each other--manuals to long-gone cars and appliances, someone's graduation tassel, and, finally, a dozen whiskey bottles, arranged on the top like trophies from his proudest accomplishments. I took in the labels. He'd been holding out on us all this time, stocking the liquor cabinet downstairs with the cheap stuff.
The Last Place You Look proceeds as if Kristen Lepionka took requests of what I wanted in a mystery. "A female private eye? You'll have it. Single, no kids, like Philip Marlowe? Got it. Millennial? I can do that. Radiohead could be her band. Sexually liberated? How about she sleeps with men and women? All right then. And you want a unique setting? How about Ohio?" She wastes absolutely no time, starting the novel with detective and client. And she has a great opening sentence: "Matt said you find things. For a living," the woman said on the phone. Chapters start off strong. Lepionka can write.
I had known Catherine since high school myself. She was lovely and odd, the darling of the art department and on the fringes of several social circles, and I was a nearly silent B student with a reputation among teachers for being a troublemaker, courtesy of Andrew, that I didn't entirely deserve. Catherine and I had barely spoken to each other until the end of our junior year, even though alphabetical order dictated that she sit in front of me in several classes. Walsh, Weary. I spent a lot of time staring at her blond curls or the slender line of her neck and trying to decide if what I felt when I looked at certain pretty, aloof girls was envy or something else altogether. But then one day she turned around and met my eye and said, "I had a dream about you. Well, it was about your brother. But you were in it."
The same reason people leave the Rust Belt--they've seen everything and want a different view--ultimately holds the book back. The suburban Ohio locations are different but the novel lacks strong atmosphere. I admired how Lepionka implied that Brad and Danielle are Black without stopping the story to explore race relations, but also feel an opportunity to tell a bigger story about the community was missed. The novel seemed to get more average the more I read. The killer's modus operandi came off as unbelievable: only in Stephen King novels do this many children disappear in small towns. The writing is good and sold me on continuing with the series, but it has room to improve.
While reading, I imagined Elizabeth Olsen as Roxane Weary.
The story is the first person account of Roxane Weary, a thirty-four-year-old private detective in Columbus, Ohio. Known as someone who can find things, she receives a referral from her brother Matt, who has minimal confidence in her abilities but wants to impress a young woman named Danielle Stockton. Danielle's brother Bradford has been behind bars for fifteen years for apparently stabbing his girlfriend's white parents to death. Claiming innocence, he's set to be executed in two months. Brad's girlfriend Sarah Cook disappeared the night of the murders never to be seen again and Danielle believes she spotted her at a gas station in the nearby suburb of "Belmont."
Roxane is daughter of Frank Weary, a police detective shot and killed on duty a few months ago. She processes her grief through shots of Crown Royal and sex with her father's partner Tom Heitker with no strings attached. Brad's case looks hopeless. The murder weapon was found in his trunk, Sarah's aunt testified that her sister was afraid of him and Brad hasn't offered a much of a defense. But Roxane learns that her father investigated the unsolved murder of a teenager who went to high school with Sarah. She breaks into his study to browse his files and bogart his booze.
The air inside the small room was dusty and cold and smelled just like my father, like whiskey and Aqua Velva. One wall was mostly taken up by a particleboard desk, the front right corner going gummy from years of a tumbler of ice sitting in the same place. A big, nineties-era computer monitor occupied the desk, plus a scratch pad with a single, indecipherable word written on it in my father's hopeless handwriting. The other wall was lined with bookcases, haphazardly piled with random artifacts of his life: baseball glove, a framed picture of my grandparents, rows of cracked-spine Western paperbacks, records--mostly jazz, some in sleeves but some just stacked on top of each other--manuals to long-gone cars and appliances, someone's graduation tassel, and, finally, a dozen whiskey bottles, arranged on the top like trophies from his proudest accomplishments. I took in the labels. He'd been holding out on us all this time, stocking the liquor cabinet downstairs with the cheap stuff.
The Last Place You Look proceeds as if Kristen Lepionka took requests of what I wanted in a mystery. "A female private eye? You'll have it. Single, no kids, like Philip Marlowe? Got it. Millennial? I can do that. Radiohead could be her band. Sexually liberated? How about she sleeps with men and women? All right then. And you want a unique setting? How about Ohio?" She wastes absolutely no time, starting the novel with detective and client. And she has a great opening sentence: "Matt said you find things. For a living," the woman said on the phone. Chapters start off strong. Lepionka can write.
I had known Catherine since high school myself. She was lovely and odd, the darling of the art department and on the fringes of several social circles, and I was a nearly silent B student with a reputation among teachers for being a troublemaker, courtesy of Andrew, that I didn't entirely deserve. Catherine and I had barely spoken to each other until the end of our junior year, even though alphabetical order dictated that she sit in front of me in several classes. Walsh, Weary. I spent a lot of time staring at her blond curls or the slender line of her neck and trying to decide if what I felt when I looked at certain pretty, aloof girls was envy or something else altogether. But then one day she turned around and met my eye and said, "I had a dream about you. Well, it was about your brother. But you were in it."
The same reason people leave the Rust Belt--they've seen everything and want a different view--ultimately holds the book back. The suburban Ohio locations are different but the novel lacks strong atmosphere. I admired how Lepionka implied that Brad and Danielle are Black without stopping the story to explore race relations, but also feel an opportunity to tell a bigger story about the community was missed. The novel seemed to get more average the more I read. The killer's modus operandi came off as unbelievable: only in Stephen King novels do this many children disappear in small towns. The writing is good and sold me on continuing with the series, but it has room to improve.
While reading, I imagined Elizabeth Olsen as Roxane Weary.
July 13, 2017
Damn, this was a good one! PI Roxane Weary's newest client is the sister of Brad Stockon, a death-row inmate who is the alleged murderer of Sarah Cooks' parents. At the time, Sarah was his girlfriend & Brad was convicted with some pretty convincing evidence. No one has seen Sarah since that brutal night fifteen years ago. But his sister, Danielle, swears that she has seen Sarah. Promising to get to the bottom of the situation, Roxane's actions quickly reveal a twist more sinister than a simple missing persons case.
Lepionka does a stunning job at penning characters, each one felt vivid & three-dimensional. I was invested in Roxane's life as much as her trying to close the case! Which rarely ever happens. The pacing was consistent; I enjoyed figuring out what would happen as each twist unfolded a bit more. I'll be honest- which many police procedural type novels, it's a toss up on whether I'm wasting my time or not. Most of the time I find there's a bunch of cliches, awful people I don't care about, or a ludicrous buildup to solve the crime by dinnertime. Sometimes it's even all of them.
I am so grateful that that isn't the case with Lepionka's debut. I immediately wanted to read this after I saw a tweet from Kristen explaining that the MC of this book is bisexual. I love that there's bi-rep in here instead of having the typical erasure trash I find in many books. It looks like this is going to be a series? (Please, please, be true! I need more Roxane in my life!) I'm hoping that if the series continues, more light will be shed on Roxane's life as she seems like a character I won't be getting tired of anytime soon. Equal parts of cleverness & fantastic prose in character setup as well as crime logistics, THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK is one I highly recommend if the mystery genre is right up your alley.
Lepionka does a stunning job at penning characters, each one felt vivid & three-dimensional. I was invested in Roxane's life as much as her trying to close the case! Which rarely ever happens. The pacing was consistent; I enjoyed figuring out what would happen as each twist unfolded a bit more. I'll be honest- which many police procedural type novels, it's a toss up on whether I'm wasting my time or not. Most of the time I find there's a bunch of cliches, awful people I don't care about, or a ludicrous buildup to solve the crime by dinnertime. Sometimes it's even all of them.
I am so grateful that that isn't the case with Lepionka's debut. I immediately wanted to read this after I saw a tweet from Kristen explaining that the MC of this book is bisexual. I love that there's bi-rep in here instead of having the typical erasure trash I find in many books. It looks like this is going to be a series? (Please, please, be true! I need more Roxane in my life!) I'm hoping that if the series continues, more light will be shed on Roxane's life as she seems like a character I won't be getting tired of anytime soon. Equal parts of cleverness & fantastic prose in character setup as well as crime logistics, THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK is one I highly recommend if the mystery genre is right up your alley.
July 14, 2017
Regular readers of my blog know that I mainly read crime thrillers. Lately everything has become very samey, so I’ve been on the lookout for a book that would blow me away. The Last Place You Look is definitely one of the best crime books I’ve had the pleasure of reading in the past few months!!!
The Last Place You Look focuses on Roxane Weary, a PI, struggling to keep her head above water in the months after her father’s death. When she gets a call to meet Danielle, whose brother is scheduled to be executed after supposedly carrying out a brutal double murder 15 years ago, Roxane reluctantly agrees. She then finds herself submerged in the history of the case of Brad Stockton, and the disappearance of his girlfriend, Sarah Cook, who never returned home on the night of her parents murder.
Roxane is definitely a troubled character. Self-medicating with alcohol, she is setting herself on a path to self-destruction. This case could be her salvation. What she uncovers during the course of her investigation could change the lives of many more than just her. But can she focus long enough to see the investigation through to the end?!
The Last Place You Look is an outstanding crime fiction DEBUT (!!!!!). Roxane is such a well-drawn character. I loved reading about her, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. Yes, she is flawed, but she is intrinsically good. She is human, she is relatable, she basically kicks ass!
I loved this book. Honestly. I couldn’t put it down. My heart was racing, my mind overflowing as I got drawn further into the superb narrative. I don’t want to say any more. Amazing debut! Stunning!
Highly, highly recommended!
The Last Place You Look focuses on Roxane Weary, a PI, struggling to keep her head above water in the months after her father’s death. When she gets a call to meet Danielle, whose brother is scheduled to be executed after supposedly carrying out a brutal double murder 15 years ago, Roxane reluctantly agrees. She then finds herself submerged in the history of the case of Brad Stockton, and the disappearance of his girlfriend, Sarah Cook, who never returned home on the night of her parents murder.
Roxane is definitely a troubled character. Self-medicating with alcohol, she is setting herself on a path to self-destruction. This case could be her salvation. What she uncovers during the course of her investigation could change the lives of many more than just her. But can she focus long enough to see the investigation through to the end?!
The Last Place You Look is an outstanding crime fiction DEBUT (!!!!!). Roxane is such a well-drawn character. I loved reading about her, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. Yes, she is flawed, but she is intrinsically good. She is human, she is relatable, she basically kicks ass!
I loved this book. Honestly. I couldn’t put it down. My heart was racing, my mind overflowing as I got drawn further into the superb narrative. I don’t want to say any more. Amazing debut! Stunning!
Highly, highly recommended!
March 10, 2024
What an absolutely amazing debut - I'd be happy with this a few books into an author's career, but Kristen Lepionka has nailed it on the first try.
Roxane Weary, by name and by grief-fueled nature, is a protagonist I found easy to root for. Still mourning the death of her father, navigating some tricky friend and family dynamics leads her into a mystery that brings all kinds of nasty squirming out from under the rocks she's unturning.
As far as female-led investigation books go, there's no shortage right now, but there's a lot of that which sits (for me) in the bad to adequate range. I've had a much harder time finding the standouts, so when karen popped up giving this series all the praise, I jumped on this first book. And it's so good - it sits much more comfortably towards the noir end of the mystery scale, though it doesn't do that thing noir does where it leaves you submerged in the futility of everything, which is a little too much for me at the moment, so bonus.
It's a satisfyingly twisty mystery, there's a resolution that had me absolutely glued to the pages and holding my breath, and I am so excited that there's currently three more books in the series to get into next!
Edit on reread - even better the second time around! Although, sadly, four years later and still only three more books in the series. Yay for rereads!
Roxane Weary, by name and by grief-fueled nature, is a protagonist I found easy to root for. Still mourning the death of her father, navigating some tricky friend and family dynamics leads her into a mystery that brings all kinds of nasty squirming out from under the rocks she's unturning.
As far as female-led investigation books go, there's no shortage right now, but there's a lot of that which sits (for me) in the bad to adequate range. I've had a much harder time finding the standouts, so when karen popped up giving this series all the praise, I jumped on this first book. And it's so good - it sits much more comfortably towards the noir end of the mystery scale, though it doesn't do that thing noir does where it leaves you submerged in the futility of everything, which is a little too much for me at the moment, so bonus.
It's a satisfyingly twisty mystery, there's a resolution that had me absolutely glued to the pages and holding my breath, and I am so excited that there's currently three more books in the series to get into next!
Edit on reread - even better the second time around! Although, sadly, four years later and still only three more books in the series. Yay for rereads!
September 10, 2017
This book seemed to hit most of the tropes required of this genre (which is a nice way of saying the storyline and main character found most of the cliches).
I found the writing style to be adequate, but there are crime writers on both sides of the Atlantic who soar much higher.
A few twists give the main character points of difference but this novel falls way short of groundbreaking.
I found the writing style to be adequate, but there are crime writers on both sides of the Atlantic who soar much higher.
A few twists give the main character points of difference but this novel falls way short of groundbreaking.
November 15, 2020
A good start to a series enjoyed this but not overly enthusiastic I know I am in the minority but I always either like it or don't 3.7 stars
November 5, 2019
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Best mystery I’ve read in a long time!! The narrator, (PI) Roxane Weary is going through a lot and is kind of a train wreck.. But this author is so good. Instead of annoying me, I LOVED her! I think it’s because she was so damn realistic.. I could feel what she was going through. And although she has some personal shit she’s dealing with, she’s smart. & it was necessary in this book.. Man oh man.. The mystery is so good. I couldn’t put it down!! No stupid red herrings just a “genuine” sequence of events- but this might be the first time I was tempted to speed up the audiobook (to chipmunk speak) just because I was dying to know exactly what happened!! Each of the people she interacted with, was “whole” and reminded me of people I knew in my life. It’s hard to gush without saying things I want you to read for yourself.. I’ll just say that I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers or mystery’s. I know I’m late to the game but I’m so excited that this is just the beginning for me & Roxane!
(Oh! I’ve read several “save the death row prisoner before he dies” books lately so I feel the need to say- although Brad & his sister (& Sarah, the victim) are integral parts of this book- it’s so much more then 1 of “those” books! Please don’t let that deter you.. It’s only a part of the story.).
(Oh! I’ve read several “save the death row prisoner before he dies” books lately so I feel the need to say- although Brad & his sister (& Sarah, the victim) are integral parts of this book- it’s so much more then 1 of “those” books! Please don’t let that deter you.. It’s only a part of the story.).
June 14, 2018
Not a big fan. It holds much too much dysfunction on the policing, detecting side "eyes" for me. In fact, I would hazard a guess that in real life work of this similar type- Roxane would be toast herself quite soon.
It's rather floored me, the ratings for this. Because I almost gave it a 2. As the plotted case itself is so outlier. Very.
And alcoholism and affairs with your Dad's copper partner aren't all that unique. So I need a real talent or some quirky insight or friendship beyond the sibling nay, nay, nay competition to be inspired for more of these.
Something about Roxane, and her manners of language and addressing don't jive with me. Not for Columbus and not for her age. Kind of like 34 going on 17-1/2, IMHO.
But the numbers of characters she introduces us to for the series absolutely surmounts the usual female p.i. who-dun-it. It gained one whole star for having people like sister-in-laws or cousins or aunts in the mix.
Maybe you'll like it more than I did. The lack of appetite to food too was truly another turn off. I like all my female coppers who eat and cook. Come to think of it, I like all the male ones who cook and eat much better too.
It's rather floored me, the ratings for this. Because I almost gave it a 2. As the plotted case itself is so outlier. Very.
And alcoholism and affairs with your Dad's copper partner aren't all that unique. So I need a real talent or some quirky insight or friendship beyond the sibling nay, nay, nay competition to be inspired for more of these.
Something about Roxane, and her manners of language and addressing don't jive with me. Not for Columbus and not for her age. Kind of like 34 going on 17-1/2, IMHO.
But the numbers of characters she introduces us to for the series absolutely surmounts the usual female p.i. who-dun-it. It gained one whole star for having people like sister-in-laws or cousins or aunts in the mix.
Maybe you'll like it more than I did. The lack of appetite to food too was truly another turn off. I like all my female coppers who eat and cook. Come to think of it, I like all the male ones who cook and eat much better too.
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