Come Die With Me (Roxy Horne Book #1)
Publishing Date: November 2023
My Rating:
Roxy Horne is a process server—not that tracking down people and giving them paperwork is her life dream—but it feeds her cake obsession. Oh, and it pays the bills. Her dream of being a Private Investigator is far out of reach. But never once, even when serving to a slime ball who wouldn’t pay child support, did she expect to find a dead body. Now her life is crazier than the cacti being launched at her car.
There is an upside. While serving a subpoena she’s connected with her high school infatuation, Rafe Amato. If the name doesn’t tell you how hot the man is, his abs will do it. All ten of them. Rafe might be an ex-cop, but his mind hasn’t gotten the memo. He thinks like a cop, he acts like a cop, and he annoys her like a cop. Her upside doesn’t feel so up anymore.
When the Las Vegas Police name her suspect number one, Roxy is inches away from losing her job, her home, and her freedom. She needs help. And she’ll take any help she can find—even if it comes from the man who drives her crazy one mile at a time.
Trigger Warnings:
Major (large part of the plot): Murder
Minor (small mentions): Infidelity
Characters
- Roxanna Horne (Roxy) – process server
- Sarina – Roxy’s best friend, works at the same office
- Rafe – ex- cop that Roxy went to college with, he is now a security officer at multiple hotels in town
- Detective McAuley – him and his partner are assigned to her case
- Donnie – person that Roxy is supposed to serve that ends up murdered
- Adelaide – Donnie’s wife
- Mandy – Adelaide’s friend, ex to Donnie’s ex partner Steve Brandt
- Gretchen – Mandy’s daughter
- Amy (Amethyst) – local dancer
- Harold Maas – Donnie and Steve’s lawyer, friends since college
My Review
I found this book to be a delightful and engaging read, reminiscent of Janet Evanovich’s style. The premise is an under qualified woman working as a process server in Las Vegas, aspiring to become a PI, only to be accused of murder. The pacing was well-executed, although the ended seemed a bit rushed and convoluted.
The dynamics between Roxy and Rafe added a nice layer of charm. The suspense was maintained throughout, although the motive for the murder struck me as underwhelming and slightly confusing. Additionally, the plot seemed to get a bit mixed up when discussing Roxie’s suspension. At times, it appeared she didn’t know who had complained, but later in the book, it seemed like she did, only to be uncertain again. This inconsistency left me slightly perplexed.
Despite these minor concerns, I look forward to the next book in the series. You can’t go wrong when a book mentions scrapbooking retreats!
Thanks BookSirens for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Book Summary/Spoilers
Roxy and Sarina go clubbing at a new club that is attached to a hotel. They spot Donnie at the club and decide to serve him but Rafe tells them they can’t bring drama to his hotels.
They follow him up to his floor and knock doors on the floor to find his room – but then Roxy finds him dead in the room.
She is treated as a suspect because she was alone with the body for a period of time. Her job puts her on unpaid leave until it’s cleared up so she takes it on herself to go solve the murder.
Gretchen is the killer, Mandy helped her cover it up. Donnie was trying to blackmail Gretchen into giving him money to not tell her dad, Steve, that Donnie was actually the biological father (although I thought he knew this?). Gretchen was born as Presley but Steve and Mandy got her name changed to Gretchen when she was a baby. Donnie was broke – leading to Steve also being broke since they were business partners.
Detective McAuley and Rafe were no longer friends because McAuley had known that Rafe’s wife was cheating on him with their captain but didn’t tell Rafe since he didn’t have proof.
A couple things I don’t understand: why was there a cake in his room for a pink gender reveal? That wasn’t completely clear… Why would they change her name from Presley to Gretchen when she was a baby if Steve supposedly didn’t know that Gretchen was his child? The mention of the suspection for Roxy based off of a complaint from her client – that was supposedly Steve? – was a little vague and could have been played up a bit more to add to the story. She also went searching through the files for the client that had hired her to find Donnie but couldn’t find out who it was although she had been told it was him? I got a little confused there.