Review: Miss Match by Sara Mills

Miss Match (Allie Fortune Mysteries #2)
By: Sara Mills
Publisher: Moody
ISBN: 978-0-8024-6927-4

About the book:
Jack…I’m in trouble, big trouble. Once, many years ago, we trusted each other completely. I’m asking you to trust me like that again. I need you. If you can, come to Berlin. I’ll find you.

FBI agent Jack O’Connor receives this cryptic letter from Maggie, a woman he used to love. The FBI refuses to get involved, so Jack asks another woman to help him investigate. Wasting no time, Allie Fortune, the best private eye in New York City, comes up with a plan to get them both into Germany.

Maggie was a Red Cross nurse in the war, and she has stayed in the divided city of Berlin to look after an orphaned child. Trapped and in hiding, she has nowhere to turn…except to Jack.
And little does Allie Fortune know that this case might just lead right to her own mysterious past…

Review:

In many ways, not much has changed in Allie Fortune’s life since she met FBI agent Jack O’Connor and they partnered together to successfully close a major case. She’s still the only female private investigator in New York City, still has tense dinners with her parents every Wednesday night, and she’s till searching for her lost love David Rubeneski, missing in action since the end of the war. When Jack calls asking for her help, she knows the situation is serious – Maggie, the woman who turned him down years before, has written from divided Berlin needing help. Armed with only a cryptic letter and no idea of the danger Maggie is in, Allie and Jack travel to Berlin determined to save her life. But Allie has a side mission to complete – her mother has charged her with finding a priest in the war-ravaged city and delivering a mysterious gift. Between her mother’s request and the threats closing in around Maggie and her secrets, Allie is shocked when the current investigation rips open old wounds from her own past. With more than her life and the lives of her friends at stake, Allie must navigate the dangerous world of international espionage if she’s to have a chance to lay the past to rest and move on with her life.

The best way I can describe Sara Mills’ writing is that it’s like film noir on the page. I’ve been on a film noir viewing kick lately, and watching classics like Laura, I Wake Up Screaming, and The Dark Corner proved to be perfect viewing complements to Sara’s rich, atmospheric storytelling. The way past and present collide in Miss Match is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. I love how Mills takes each character’s secrets and forces them to confront their fears in the light of present danger. Allie is as smart and engaging as she was in her debut, but since meeting Jack, a guy who genuinely values her friendship and her rather unorthodox job skill set, she’s begun to open up. Kudos to Mills for creating such a fantastic investigative team in Allie and Jack – theirs is a genuine, rewarding friendship based on mutual respect and understanding. But emotional risk and self-reflective moments are not always welcome or easy to endure, as proven when Allie discovers a shocking secret about her mother’s past that forces her to re-evaluate her own character and prejudices.

Miss Match is the perfect blend of post-war intrigue and mystery, the ideal read for anyone who appreciates the tone and storytelling style of classic film noir. A page-turning tale mystery, faith, and second chances, I only hope that one day not too far in the future we’ll get a third Allie Fortune mystery to continue Miss Match’s KILLER cliffhanger. :)

Click to read my review of the first Allie Fortune mystery, Miss Fortune.

Review: Miss Fortune by Sara Mills

This review was originally posted on my old blog in October 2008.


Miss Fortune (Allie Fortune Mystery #1)
By: Sara Mills
Publisher: Moody
ISBN: 978-0-8024-6926-7

Back cover summary:

It's 1947 and Allie Fortune is the only female (and perhaps the best) private investigator in New York City.

But she's kept awake at nigh by a mystery of her own - her fiance disappeared in the war and Allie is haunted more by the unknown than by finding out the worst.

Her work is a welcome distraction, and she's just been hired by a client who isn't telling the whole truth. Mary Gordon's claims of innocence don't fit with her ransacked apartment, being shot at, and the two Soviet agents hot on her trail.

Meanwhile the FBI is working the case because a legendary and mysterious treasure has gone missing...again. The only catch for Allie is her new "partner" Jack, an attractive, single agent who knows how to make her smile.

As Allie and Jack chase after the gold, they must contend with the Soviets who also want the priceless treasure back - after all, they stole it fair and square.

Review:

Allie Fortune's life is hanging in limbo. David, the only man she ever loved, disappeared in the war. Two years later, still haunted by regrets, Allie is unable to move forward with her life until the mystery of David's disappearance is laid to rest. She's spent years honing her skills as an investigator, building a solid reputation, acquiring contacts, and calling in every favor imaginable in ultimately fruitless attempts to discover David's fate. When Mary Gordon walks through her office door, claiming she's being stalked, little does Allie realize that Mary's duplicity will draw her into a web of deceit and danger that may just give her the opportunity to make peace with her past - but only if she can survive the threats coalescing around her client's dangerous secret.

Miss Fortune is the perfect "marriage" of two of my obsessions - World War II era history and classic film. Allie's adventures pay particular homage to film noir classics like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. She's a female version of the "hard-boiled" detective type made famous by Humphrey Bogart in the aforementioned films as well as other detectives who populated 1940s film classics like Laura (and Dana Andrews's unforgettable detective). It's a rare thing to encounter a novel that makes me feel like I'm watching an absorbing film unfold, but Mills has achieved that feat with her debut here. The pages of Miss Fortune drip with atmosphere, and Allie's voice - a combination of smarts, sarcasm, and a touch of world-weariness - is utterly captivating. I appreciated the lack of "preachiness" to the story. The spiritual thread is subtly introduced as Allie gradually comes to realize self-reliance is hindering her life at the expense of protecting her heart. Mills includes tantalizing glimpses of Allie's history with David - just enough to tease the reader into wanting more (prequel, anyone? ). My one quibble with this book is that we don't get to know Jack well enough (however, my fingers are crossed that this will be remedied with the sequel, Miss Match, due to release March 2009 - the story blurb looks promising!). The characterizations, pacing, and dialogue all seamlessly work together to transport the reader into Allie's world of danger and intrigue. Personally I can't wait to make another trip with the sequel.