The Missing Ink – Karen E. Olson
Title: The Missing Ink
Author: Karen Olson
Publication Date: July 7, 2009
This copy was provided by the publisher for review.
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When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her fiance embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows. The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client… and the name this woman wanted on the tattoo isn’t her fiance’s.An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar. And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her? Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger. But she intends to see justice done, since, death, like a tattoo, is permanent.
This book was the first in Karen Olson’s Tattoo Shop Mysteries. Another one is in the works, set to be published in April of 2010 (according to the excerpt in the back of this one).
I found this mystery to be an enjoyable read. The chapters were very short, which meant I ended up reading more in one sitting than I normally would, because I could tell myself ‘just one more chapter.’ I started to care about the well being of the main character Brett, along with her co-workers and friends. The way the characters were written about, I was really able to establish a personality for each of them, which I really like in a book.
The mystery itself was a little confusing, because it deals with the switching of names and other similar ideas, but made sense in the end (thankfully). I really had no idea who was committing the crimes, and was expecting a few individuals to be guilty that weren’t.
For awhile it was annoying to me that Brett’s detective brother Tim wouldn’t tell Brett anything (which is common for a detective, but Brett’s speculations were getting old, I wanted facts)! It gets better towards the end once he realizes that she is a big part of the crimes.
I usually don’t enjoy reading books part of a series that only have the first book out, because now I have to wait almost a year for the next one, but I did enjoy this one and know I will be looking for “Pretty In Ink” (#2) next spring!
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I'm opposite. I love reading a series, especially if I fall in love with the characters…I find it so hard to leave them after I finally get to know them so having a series to keep the connection going is my cupatea. Not that I shy away from stand alones…I read those too!
Oh I love series too! I prefer them. I meant I don't normally like reading series when only 1 book is out – I like waiting until there are a couple (for example, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series has 15 and I just started a little while ago) and then I can read a bunch in a row!
Thanks for the great review! And the pub date on the second book has been moved back to March, so it's even less time to wait.
Thanks for stopping by, Karen…. and HOORAY! I didn't even tempt myself by reading any of the excerpt in the back for Pretty in Ink because I didn't want to be sad about waiting so many months…