Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery (Vera Kelly Book Two) by Rosalie Knecht

Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery (Vera Kelly Book Two) by Roslaie Knecht.

Published 6th April 2021 by Verve Books.

From the cover of the book:

Recently out-of-the-spy-game heroine Vera Kelly finds herself travelling from Brooklyn to a sprawling countryside estate in the Caribbean in her first case as a private investigator. 

When ex-CIA agent Vera Kelly loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day, she reluctantly goes into business as a private detective. Heartbroken and cash-strapped, she takes a case that dredges up dark memories and attracts dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape. 

Before it's over, she'll chase a lost child through foster care and follow a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean. 

Forever looking over her shoulder, she nearly misses what's right in front of her: her own desire for home, connection, and a new romance at the local bar. 

In this exciting second instalment of the 'splendid genre-pushing' (People) Vera Kelly series, Rosalie Knecht challenges and deepens the Vera we love: a woman of sparkling wit, deep moral fibre, and martini-dry humour who knows how to follow a case even as she struggles to follow her heart.

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I completely fell in love with both Vera Kelly and Rosalie Knecht's writing in the first instalment of the Vera Kelly books, Who Is Vera Kelly?, so was chomping at the bit to see what was in store for Vera in Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery.

This time around, Vera, fresh from her stint as a CIA agent in Argentina, has settled back in New York with a house, a steady job and a sort-of steady-girlfriend, but things soon turn rocky when she loses both her job and her girlfriend in a single day.

Heartbroken, broke and spurred on by Raymond Chandler stories, Vera decides to put her spying skills to good use by becoming a private detective, although the kinds of cases that come her way are less than thrilling - until, that is, she is employed to track down the whereabouts of a young Dominican boy. 

This case takes her from the streets of Brooklyn all the way to the politically troubled Dominican Republic and back again; has her searching for the lost boy in the chaotic New York foster care system: and has her rubbing shoulders with the kinds of devious types she thought she had left behind with her CIA days. The search for this lost boy is far more dangerous that Vera anticipated, but she will not rest until she has seen him safe from harm, whatever the personal cost...

It was such a delight to meet up again with the smart, sassy Vera Kelly, and in this second book of the series we learn quite a lot about her well hidden vulnerable side - the one that lies beneath the tough protective shell she has constructed over the years to keep herself from getting close to people, for fear of getting hurt - and what we learn is deeply affecting.

As Vera gets heavily involved in her search for the lost Dominican Boy, she starts to reflect on her own childhood relationships and her time within the care system, and she develops a feeling of kinship with him that will not allow her to fail in her task - even if this means facing peril head on. And of course, Vera being Vera, she has some romantic adventures along the way too. Interestingly, it is not only her soul searching, but the brush with danger itself that brings into focus some home truths about what, and who, she really wants, and the realisation that she can only achieve this by letting someone get close to her.

As in the first book, Knecht brings in just the right amount of politics here. In this case, we get a look at the murky politics of the late 1960's Dominican Republic and the influence of the USA in these events; the social changes on the ground in the USA itself through the anti-Vietnam protests; the rise of the peace and free love movements; and the continuing discrimination against the gay community - all set against a beautifully written and immersive adventure, with moments of  1960's Bond-like action and the wonderful emotional intensity of one woman's search for connection. It's glorious storytelling, and I cannot wait for the next Vera book!

Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery is available to buy now in e-book and paperback formats now from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Hollie McDevitt from Oldcastle Books for sending me a copy of this book n return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Rosalie Knecht is the author of Who Is Vera Kelly?, Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery and Relief Map. She is also the translator of César Aira’s The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions). She lives in New Jersey.