Speart, Jessica – UNSAFE HARBOR

[LJ Roberts]

UNSAFE HARBOR (Licensed Investigator-NJ/NY-Cont) - Poor Speart, Jessica – 10^th book
AvonMystery, 2006- Paperback

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent Rachel Porter has been reassigned to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. A wealthy socialite has been murdered and the police notified Magda, by the owner of the local “roach coach” canteen from which Rachel buys her lunch. After the police have gone, she notices Magda wearing a very light, but very warm, shahtooosh shawl; a highly illegal product. Rachel’s hunt for the source of these shawls takes her from penthouses to strip clubs, the Mafia and a very dangerous import operation.

This book was a selection of my East Bay Mystery Readers’ Group and much more cozy than I would normally read. This book stretched my limit of credibility to its limit. Rachel set off on this investigation completely on her own without sanction; okay I can live with that. But everyone was completely willing to tell her anything she wants to know and coincidences drive the plot. I finished it, but shaking my head with disbelief all the way through, particularly with a completely absurd action by the protagonist at the climatic scene of the book. This just did not work for me.