A very fun and interesting read. I don't think I've read a PI novel quite like this one before - dynamic and unique characters, a quick-paced writing style that moved the book along nicely, and a mix of vibrant settings.

I actually didn't realize this was #2 in a series until after I read it, but that wasn't an issue at all. Will definitely be going back to read book 1!

Vera Kelly was so intriguing to me! The book was narrated in a contemporary fiction style, but takes place in the late 1960s. So Vera being a lesbian created some serious conflicts and issues for her. Which sucks. But also really helped form a lot of her story. On the same day, she is fired from her job (because there's a morals clause, and she's a lesbian) and her girlfriend leaves her. Definitely a bummer of a day.

Nothing in the classifieds sounds like a good fit, so the former CIA agent decides to hang out a shingle and launch her own private investigator business. After a few cheating spouse cases, she is hired to find a boy by a couple who says they're his aunt and uncle. As the case goes on, she gets closer to finding the boy, but the aunt and uncle don't seem to be who they say they are.

Vera has to decide what to do with the results of her investigation, while also navigating friendships and love in her late 20s. Is this really what there is to adulting?

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I found the style really interesting, and it made me feel like I could be living in the late 1960s while reading it. it was a unique story of a character in this time, that probably wouldn't have been published with all her secrets revealed back then.

Such a fun and entertaining read. I thought oh enjoyed my time with these characters. More of this author, please.

I loved this book and have been talking it up. Vera is such an interesting character, and the circumstances of her life, and the plot, really keep the pages turning.

Lots of great details and excellent writing.

This is the second book in a mystery/sleuth series, and while I didn't read the first book, I easily picked this up and got right into the story-line.
Vera is an ex CIA agent who goes into business as a private detective. The books is set in the 1960's and I loved the dry humor and mod type theme set in this book.
While the plot wasn't a huge mystery to me, Vera is so enjoyable that I could easily see this book series continuing and becoming a TV series

I absolutely loved Knecht’s Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery! Ex-CIA agent turned private eye Vera Kelly is smart, compelling, and highly adept at navigating the many challenges of living in the 1960s as a gay woman in a man's world. Highly recommended!

Set in the sixties Vera is out of work but not options. Ex CIA she sets herself up in private investigations. After a slow start she is asked to find the son of an political family from the Dominican Republic. Through the course of this investigation she works as a case worker for a charity that takes in boys without families. Searching for Felix brings it’s own challenges. Following the clues and relying on her history as an operative a stint in the Dominican Republic opens old wounds but finds new friends. Instinct helps her see through the deception and carry the say.

Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery is the second book in the series by Rosalie Knecht. Released 16th June 2020 by Tin House Books, it's 249 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a complex, intricately written book which works well enough as a standalone. Part espionage/PI novel, part slice of life character driven drama, it has a fully retro-1967 pre-Stonewall-riots-NYC vibe that has so much verisimilitude it could easily have been *written* contemporaneously. The dialogue is exquisitely well done without a false note in the entire narrative. I really liked the fact that although Vera was a problem solver, physically adept and clever, she certainly wasn't immune to physical or emotional pain. She puts her head down and keeps on going, despite the difficulties. I related very much to her insecurity navigating the minefields of personal interaction and dating and her weird relationship with her disapproving and difficult mother.

Many readers who read a large volume of modern fiction might have trouble quantifying precisely what makes for a standout book but know it when they read it. Is it the quality of the narrative, the pacing, the characterization, the tension and story arc? Whatever it is, this book has it in spades. This is top shelf fiction and it's delightful that it's a PI novel (and the mean streets of NYC in the latter half of the 60s was a really big bonus for me).

Five stars. Definitely one of my top reads for 2020. Highly highly recommended.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I was really charmed by this book. I hadn't read the first Vera Kelly story, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of this one. Vera is an ex-CIA agent who doesn't like letting people in to the painful parts of her past. Her love life as a lesbian in late-1960s New York is complicated. And she ends up a freelance private detective, although her first big client turns out to be deceiving her in a dangerous way. I can't say more without spoilers, so suffice it to say, this was a fast read and an engaging one.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

Continuing on from Who is Vera Kelly, the reader will find the former CIA agent dealing with her new job as a private investigator and romance. Its also a look at what being queer was like in the 1960’s. Vera been hired to track down the missing great-nephew, the son of well-to-Dominicans. Vera is a PI like I’ve never met before and I look forward to more in the series.

Vera Kelly is not a Mystery nor a spy anymore. In fact, she has quit the CIA and is free-lancing as a private detective. After all, where else can she use her spy skills?

Business is slow until she gets a missing person case. Mr. Ibarra is looking for his fourteen-year-old grand-nephew, Felix. When Felix’ caretaker died three years ago, Felix was sucked into the child protective system. As a Dominican refugee, Felix used an unknown false name. Vera takes the case and is sucked into Dominican politics and the life of refugees in the US.

It’s 1967 and knowledge still has to be acquired the old fashioned way by infiltrating a boy’s group home and talking to people. The chaotic backdrop of the Vietnam War and the corresponding war protests ratchets up the tension.

Vera Kelly is not a Mystery is a great atmospheric story. It is hard not to see our current issues being portrayed on the page. This book is perfect for thriller, noir, and historical fiction fans. 4 stars!

Thanks to Tin House Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Don't you love this colorful and secretive cover? VERA KELLY IS NOT A MYSTERY by Rosalie Knecht is a great choice if you are looking to escape in time (it is set in 1967/1968) or place (to the New York City area and the Caribbean). Knecht, author of Relief Map and Who is Vera Kelly? returns with a second mystery featuring Vera, a former CIA operative. This time, Vera loses her girlfriend, Jane, and her job so, a bit despondent, she turns to work as a private investigator. The case which intrigues her involves a hunt for a young boy from the Dominican Republic whose missing parents threatened the dictatorial regime. The story is told largely through a noir-ish internal monologue from Vera: "I walked up to her unsure what to say. There was a great deal, but there was also very little." Vera's voice and her reflections on the 1960's – in terms of both international relations and obstacles for women – are bitingly insightful. Paired with potential kidnapping, car chases, and dangerous deceptions, the result is a literary mystery to savor. I am already looking forward to the next in this underappreciated series.

The sequel is even better than the first Vera Kelly book! I sped through this one. A former CIA agent, now private investigator, looks for a missing child while navigating queerness and sexism in the sixties. It's a busy plot, but one I could get invested in.

Vera Kelly has settled into New York City life after her harrowing CIA assignment in Argentina, but, in a single day, she loses her job and her girlfriend. She decides to open a detective agency, and her first cases require her to spy on cheating wives. When a forlorn couple wants to hire her to find their nephew, Felix, a boy sent to the United States from the Dominican Republic by his parents to keep him safe from Balaguer, the new dictator of the island.

Both wanting to help the family and relieved to have a case not involving unfaithful spouses, Vera follows Felix’s trail through the foster care system—which triggers memories of her own past—and travels to the Dominican Republic in search of his birth parents, encountering both dazzle and danger, not knowing who to trust.

Meanwhile, she nurses her broken heart at her local lesbian bar where Maxine, the bartender, turns her head.

The second book in the Vera Kelly series, Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knect, set in 1967-1968, is absolutely delightful. Scrappy and smart, Vera excels at quick thinking, even if she might be so self-contained and self-protective she dooms relationships before they begin. I was worried that Vera’s career change might narrow her opportunities to shine, but in this book, she continued to take on different roles and talk herself out of as many difficult situations as in Who Is Vera Kelly?

I enjoyed the first book, but I think this was even more fun. Perhaps this is because much of Vera’s backstory was introduced, so this book was able to focus more on the central mystery, or maybe it’s because we know Vera better in the sequel. I love Vera as a character, and Pride Month is the perfect time to read about her! It’s not necessary to read Who Is Vera Kelly? first, but I am glad that I did.

A character you become emotionally attached to and a story that's fast paced from beginning to end. I was breathlessly waiting for the second book of this series wondering if it would hold up to book one and oh yes it did. A definite must read and if you haven't checked out book one you definitely should.. Happy reading!

I loved the first book by Knecht, Who is Vera Kelly? so I was very happy to receive a review copy of its sequel. These books combine a couple of things I really love – a complicated main character, a mystery, and the history and politics of other countries. In the first novel, heroine Vera was an undercover CIA agent in Argentina in the 1960s. In that book we learn a lot more about Vera’s own history, the trauma she went through as a teenager and how she ended up as an agent in a time when no one expects a woman to do this kind of work.

In the sequel, Vera’s home from Argentina and quit the CIA. She’s trying to hold down a regular job and a relationship but loses both of them in the same day — first her girlfriend breaks up with her, and then she’s fired when her employer finds out she’s gay. Relying on her skills learned in the CIA, she sets up an office as a private investigator. Her first client is a couple looking for a boy who was sent to New York by parents imprisoned by the political regime in the Dominican Republic.

This sets Vera off on an investigation into the foster care system and the Dominican community, both in New York and abroad. She’s determined to rescue this child even though everyone warns her against it. Vera is fearless, prickly and difficult – just the kind of character I like. Along the way she has to deal with her own family history and try to resolve the issues that are holding her back in her relationships. As with the first book, Knecht explores LGBTQ issues of the time, both legal and social, like Vera’s firing and raids on suspected lesbian bars.

One thing I liked about both books is the attention Knecht pays to the details of investigative work. I suppose the reason I like mysteries is because I like puzzle-solving, so I’m fascinated by the often mundane work of an agent or PI — the combing through papers, the hours of observation, the following of one small detail to the next. And it makes perfect sense that the skills Vera already learned as an undercover operative would lend themselves to investigative work.

While I loved the story in the first book, this one is even better, because there’s less back and forth between Vera’s past and her present. I would definitely recommend reading them in order, though you don’t absolutely have to, as this book gives you enough background to understand Vera’s conflicted feelings.

Vera is so alone and so guarded, I couldn’t help but feel for her even though she tries to keep everyone at a distance. Maybe the tough-as-nails investigator with the heart of gold will strike some readers as a trope, but this book, like the first, felt fresh and original.

Note: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Tin House Books. This book publishes June 16, 2020.

I love Vera Kelly! She is not taking the easy path through life. A lesbian in the late 60s, where it is still a crime, and trying to start her own business after being fired due to a morals clause in her employment contract. Then when she does get a solid client, she finds out that he may not be as he presents himself. I love how the series blends politics, homosexuality, and history together in a really engaging and enjoyable book. I'm enjoying getting to know Vera better and the host of other characters that are introduced throughout the book. I think the only questionable part for me was when Vera was under duress. Not sure that would have ended the same way in real life! But, thankfully this is fiction so we can hopefully read more about Ms. Kelly in future books!

Holy cow this is a great read! Vera left the CIA after an unfortunate incident in Argentina and is subsisting it in NY where she owns a home and is trying to build a life. When she's outed and fired, she decides to do what she knows best- investigate. While her first clients are domestic, she is visited one day by an older couple who claim to be looking for their young nephew. Their story involves politics in the Dominican Republic and while something doesn't seem quite right, Vera is determined to find Felix. Along the way, she revises what she thinks, takes a job at a home for boys, and then travels to the DR. She's also dealing with the break in her relationship with Jane and a new attraction to Max. There are so many facets to this carefully plotted and really cool mystery- starting with Vera. She's complex, she's smart, she's tricky, and she's determined. It's atmospheric (especially the parts in the DR- you will feel the humidity). Then there's Felix and his cat Ruben. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend. It's a fast read that will keep you, along with Vera, guessing.

Vera Kelly is...OK. The story itself was nothing really special and the writing style was often a little boring. It is possible I missed out on something by not reading the first book. I might feel more connected to her if I had read that. This Vera Kelly has just broken up with her girlfriend and lost her job. She decides to become a private investigator. Since it is the late 60s, she has trouble getting clients at first. Don't worry. That is glossed over in just a few words. Then we come to the case that will be central to the rest of the story. A child is missing. A 14 year old boy is being sought by his great uncle. He had to leave the Dominican Republic due to politics and was staying with a trusted housekeeper. The housekeeper died and the boy disappeared into the system. Vera follows. For a CIA trained operative, she seems extremely trusting. Perhaps it was the time. The whole thing had promise but it kept falling flat for me. I wanted so much to like this book more than I did. It was just...OK.

This is a book I will not be doing a public review for. I really wanted to like it, because I liked the first book. However, for me this was just dragging and I couldn’t bring myself to go past fifty percent when it still felt like nothing was happening. I listened to the first book on audio, perhaps that would have made a difference with this book?