Everybody Knows

In this fast-paced noir private-investigator suspense novel, Los Angeles public relations “fixer” Mae Pruett solves problems for her clients by wiping social media and using her press contacts to manipulate the story. When her own boss is executed in the street, she must use all her assets, including her ex-boyfriend Chris, a former crooked cop turned security enforcer, to solve the case and ensure her own livelihood against “the Beast,” Hollywood’s underbelly of millionaires and politicians who consider themselves above the law. Narrators Megan Tusing and William DeMeritt wonderfully narrate the alternating chapters from Mae’s and Chris’s points of view with clear diction and expressiveness. However, audio-production errors consisting of clipped words and skips keep this title from receiving a starred review. Harper, whose She Rides Shotgun won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, has excelled again with gritty noir that hits hard and is packed with impactful sentences like Mae’s mantra, “Nobody talks, but everybody whispers.”