I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the advanced copy of this book. I apologize for the delay in sharing my review. Now that I've recently retired, I’ve been able to tackle my backlog of reviews, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on this one. You can find my review on my Instagram account @shhi_iamreading. Here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/shh_iamreading

Mystery Girl can be simply described as a pulpy mystery novel–handsome detective, beautiful women, crime, drugs, sex, etc. Sam Kornberg is no Philip Marlowe (which in some ways is a good thing), but he’s a pretty hilarious narrator. In fact, Mystery Girl is full of characters who are larger than life (no pun intended, in the case of Kornberg’s detective boss) and quite chuckle-worthy. The plot itself is just ridiculous (in a good way).

The mystery aspect of Mystery Girl is very good–it’s suspenseful and well-written. I had parts of it figured out here and there before the end, but I couldn’t figure out how it all tied together until the very end, which is a good thing. Had Gordon stuck to the mystery and Kornberg’s personal life, this would have been a great mystery novel.

Aside from one small annoyance (that you can read about in my full review), Mystery Girl is a good book. Again, I really enjoyed the mystery itself and Gordon is a good writer. I plowed through the book because I wanted to know what happened next, which is always a good sign. I’d recommend this book to readers who like a good, modern, noir-type mystery.