What is it about Minnesota that produces such outstanding mystery writers? Is it the weather keeping people housebound? Is it the incredible areas like the Boundary Waters? Is it the drinking water? Right off the bat I will come up with P.J. Tracy, William Kent Kruger, and John Sandford.
P.J Tracy’s Margaret Nolan detective novels are set in Los Angeles unlike the outstanding Monkeewrench Gang series which she co-wrote with her late mother. Doesn’t matter. Tracy will make any setting, and character come alive. Or dead, as the case may be.
Pet food company founder, Bruce Messane is found dead in his car on the day he was about to sell his company making him a very very rich man (as opposed to merely very rich). He is found in a dangerous, very bad area of Los Angeles. Where a man like him would only be hanging out for drugs or sex. A neat bullet hole in his head has put paid to his life.
Immediately afterwards Messane’s former partner’s wife, then his former partner are both kidnapped. Along with their dog. Did I mention Tracy can take us down wonderful white rabbit holes?
City of Secrets starts slowly, with momentum building as more and more information is discovered by Nolan and her partner, Al Crawford, along with others in her unit.
What starts as a wrong time, wrong place murder quickly morphs into an intricate story encompassing all sorts of international crime. The excitement level ratchets up as the minutes pass too.
Sam Easton, a former soldier serving in Afghanistan and a major character in other Margaret Nolan books has a minor role in City of Secrets, but he is happy and able to mostly look at his PTSD in the rearview mirror. It seemed as he was being positioned to take a larger role in upcoming books.
Not much in the way of sunny skies in City of Secrets, Tracy has chosen to set her book in the midst of atmospheric miserable rainy weather that fits the inner-city environs of so much of the book. So nice not to have weather envy of LA.
City of Secrets is complex, compelling storytelling. Nolan is a smart detective who doesn’t know it all. Her co-workers are all her partners, none of the backbiting and undermining I get so tired of reading in police detective books.
I highly recommend every book in the Margaret Nolan and Monkeewrench series. However, City of Secrets, stands on its own merits if this the first of her books that you read. They are all terrific books.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Minotaur’s press for an Advanced Review Copy.

This is the fourth book in P. J. Tracy’s (pseudonym for Traci Lambrecht that derives from when she and her mother wrote the Monkeewrench series before her death) Detective Margaret Nolan series. Nolan and her partner, Al Crawford, catch the case of the murder of Bruce Messane, the CEO of a successful pet food business that is about to be acquired in a multimillion dollar transaction. The murder occurred in a run-down, dangerous part of Los Angeles - step one in the investigation is to figure out what he was doing there in the first place. A day later, the wife of Messane’s former business partner is kidnapped, followed a day later by the kidnapping of the former partner as well. Sound complicated? It is. There are several story lines that sometimes get confusing as you try to remember exactly who is who and why are they in this complex story. As the plot unfolds and the stories converge, the pace quickens to a fast paced ending. This book has all the elements of a good mystery - plenty of twists and false leads. While I ended up enjoying the book in the end, it was quite confusing - lots of characters and the story bouncing back and forth (sometimes feeling like all over the place) for some time which leads to my 3 star rating. Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

this is the 4th book in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. A successful business man was murdered in a shady part of town, and the wife of one of his partners is kidnapped. While Det Nolan and her partner are investigating the murder they discover their friend Sam at the home of the partner trying to convince him to call the police regarding his wife. Sam is also in the process of joining the SWAT team and moving his relationship forward with Melody

I really like this series and find the characters people I want to continue to read about. I like how their stories always seem to intersect and the mysteries are always interesting. This can be read as a stand-alone but I would suggest reading the others first. It gives more context to the characters.

I am enjoying the budding romance between Remy and Nolan. Their office romance is not as secret as they would prefer but Remy is starting to consider other options instead of the police, he would also like to move home to Louisiana - so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Overall a solid mystery with great characters. I'm going to keep going with this series.

When Detective Margret Nolan and her partner Al Crawford get called to less desirable part of town to find Bruce Messane, CEO of a multi-million-dollar company, shot in his car, and the tires missing. At the same time as he should have been at a board meeting selling the company.
The investigation leads them to a former partner, whose wife has just been kidnapped.
And let’s throw in cooked books, drugs, … and you have quite the ride.

I read City of Secrets without having read any of the prior Detective Nolan books... which I really think is necessary for this series. This was my first Tracy book and though I thought the book was good, there was so much backstory in this book that I needed to know and so I struggled with many parts.

All that aside, this is a good mystery story... and it is not a typical police procedural (it is sort of solved... no spoilers here.) That made the story feel more realistic to me. This story also made me want to go back and read the earlier books in the series to fill in the gaps!

If this is not your first Detective Nolan book, I think you will enjoy it tremendously!

I would like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books for the digital copy of this book. It was published on August 20, 2024.

City of Secrets is book four in the amazing Detective Margaret Nolan series by P. J. Tracy.
This is a well-written, entertaining, fast paced, crime thriller. It has murder, mystery, suspense, with a touch of humor, amazing twists and turns, and a surprise ending.
This is the fourth entry in P.J. Tracy's outstanding Detective Margaret Nolan series, and can easily be read and enjoyed as a stand alone, but is even better when read in order.
The phenomenal gritty characters make this story so much more entertaining.
I loved the story; the characters are likable and realistic and the pacing of this story was really good.

Thank You NetGalley and Minotaur Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is the 4th book in a series that I haven’t read. When I was given the book, I was told it was a “standalone installment” so I accepted it. I need to be upfront and tell you that I disagree with that and only recommend this book if you have read the other books in the series. Whereas I thought the storyline and mystery were good, without all the backstories that were alluded to, it’s easy to feel a little lost while reading. I also had an issue keeping all the characters straight. I felt like everyone had at least 2 names they went by – sometimes it was just their first name, sometimes it was their last name, and other times it was a nickname. Maybe if I’d read the other 3 books I would know the characters better to more easily go from one name to another but as a person thrown into an existing series with many characters, it was hard to keep track. These are the issues that make it only an OK read rather than a really good read for me personally. I’m sure others that have been following the series have much higher praise because again, the storyline and mystery were good. It’s piqued my interest enough that I will be putting the 1st in the series on my TBR to give the series a proper try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the complimentary copy of this book. As always, the opinions expressed within this review are completely my own.

I thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy. I, unfortunately could not get thru this book. I may have enjoyed it more if I had read the first couple books and got to know the characters.

A quick and entertaining read, a thrilling addition to the Detective Margaret Nolan series. On the eve of a big financial deal to sell his company, the CEO of a successful pet food company is found dead in his car in a rough part of LA. Why was he there? Drugs? Sex? Then his former partner's wife is kidnapped. Just a coincidence? Not likely.

Nice combination of drama and humor. I enjoyed these characters and their personal relationships. Looking forward to seeing where the author takes her characters next. Big changes in store?

Many thanks to author and publisher for the invitation to read an arc of this new book in a mystery series I've enjoyed from book one. The ebook arc was provided to me via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I was a big fan of the Monkeewrench series by P. J. Tracy from the beginning, but I had not read a book by this author for a few years and can't really give a reason for that. When I saw that City of Secret was available, I was excited to revisit a nostalgic favorite, and I am happy to say I was impressed again with the writing and thrills. While half of the original writing team has passed away, the daughter, Traci, is continuing writing under the name, with continued success.

City of Secrets is a complicated detective novel, and like many of my favorites features a strong, intelligent woman as the lead character. There is a murder which gets Nolan involved, and a kidnapping which may or may not be related. Some possibly shady business dealings might also be part of the crime as well as drug dealing. I struggled a little throughout the book to keep characters straight, as there are a considerable number of people both criminals and crime fighters that play a role in this story. The romantic interest in the Margaret Nolan series keeps her human and grounded, and I am rooting for them to continue the relationship in future books, as well.

Reading City of Secrets has made me want to reread the earlier books and to catch up on the ones I have missed in the last few years. Readers of Melinda Leigh or Kendra Elliott's detective novels will also enjoy P. J. Tracy. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the digital ARC of City of Secrets by P. J. Tracy. The opinions in this review are my own.

This was a great police/crime procedure book and I enjoyed reading how they solved the crimes in this book. However, this is part of a series and I haven't read any of the other books in this series and was lost trying to figure out characters for the first couple of chapters. One would definitely benefit from reading past books in this series before reading.

I loved this series almost, but not quite as much as the Monkeywrench books. The includes Marg Nolan & Remy. Th story was very confusing at times and am not entirely sure who did what to whom, but it involved murder, & kidnapping, and trying to tie the two together. It was interesting. I’d recommend to anyone who has enjoyed pj Tracey’s other books.

I've read three other books in this series and looked forward to this, the fourth. But although I admit to staying up later than my regular bedtime to finish this one, it's not my favorite of the bunch. Oh sure, I still love LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan and her crew, but there are just too many characters in too many different places for an aging brain like mine to keep straight. Otherwise, though, it's business as usual - and that usually means plenty of action.

This one begins with the discovery of a body in what seems to have been a car-jacking; the suspicions of Nolan and her partner Al Crawford are aroused, though, when it's discovered that the victim is the founder of a pet supply company that's grown by leaps and bounds and, as a result, about to be scarfed up by an even larger company for a paltry $100 million.

Top company employees deny any notion of fraud or foul play at the business - one of them even conducted a thorough audit in recent months. And the plot thickens when the murdered man's wife is kidnapped - with zero indication of ransom or other conditions that must be met for her safe return.

After that, things tend to get wild and crazy, with characters coming from all over the map. And while all this is going on, Margaret's infatuation with fellow detective Remy Beaudreau (and his with her) is heating up amid questions about where it should go - if anywhere. More kidnappings and close calls happen all the way up to the end, when most of the situations are resolved (with one biggie left wide open for, I hope, the next installment. I'll be waiting - and meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this one.

In this 4th Detective Margaret (Maggie) Nolan police procedural the author gives us multiple threads and then flawlessly sews them together. Maggie and her partner, Detective Al Crawford, are called put to a fatal car jacking. It turns out the victim, Bruce Messane, the co-founder of Peppy Pets, was supposed to be at a meeting to sell his 100 million dollar company. His death does not bode well for his partners. In less than 24 hours, Nicole Bechtold, wife of Messane's former partner, is kidnapped. There is no ransom demand.

Maggie knows these two events are connected. There are indications that Messane has been helping himself to the company's money. As an added complication, it looks like the Los Zetas mob is involved.

Maggie is a tenacious officer, she keeps digging until she finds the truth. The supporting characters are all well developed characters that we have gotten to know from the previous books. This can be read as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading the other installments to get to know Maggie, Al, Remy (her love interest?) and Sam Easton all the better.

This is a fast paced read, with action and twists that keep us turning the pages. I look forward to the next book in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Minotaur Books, for an ARC. The review is my own.

A quick read with plenty of twists and turns. I enjoyed the relationship development between Nolan and Remy, and the development of Sam as a character. I was glad to see that this time Sam felt more a part of what was going on, and key to solving the mystery in the end.

As a big fan of this series, I am excited that LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan and other series regulars, including Sam Easton, are back!
When a middle-of-the-night call ends in murder, Nolan and her partner Al Crawford find themselves on a case that turns out to be anything but straightforward as they work to find the killer. A clever page-turner with relatable, multidimensional characters that feel like old friends, City of Secrets explores the dichotomy of LA, from the seedy side of Culver City to spectacular Malibu Beach, cartel gangs to mega-business deals, murder to love. While this book could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend reading the series from the start to more fully enjoy the parts of the book that deal with the personal lives of the characters.

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is back. The scene of a fatal carjacking looks just like what it is, but as they dig deeper, they realize there is much more to this story, a whole lot more.

This is another thrilling installment starring Detective Margaret Nolan. It is fast-paced, mysterious and intriguing. Detective Nolan is a very likeable character, who is quick-witted and high capable. If you are living a life of a crime, you do not want Detective Nolan on your tail. The short chapters are a plus as well.

For those who enjoy a good crime procedural, you will love it.

Thank you o St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I had a hard time getting invested in this story. While I think the mystery was good, so many characters were introduced in the first half that seemingly had no reason to be introduced. There was one guy, Sam, who I liked, but I didn't feel his POV or scenes needed to be in the book. By the time we stopped getting new characters, I wasn't interested in what was happening. I did enjoy the previous book in this series, so I will check out the next one. This one just didn't work for me.

Interesting mystery! A CEO is murdered the day before selling his company and found in a bad part of town. Maggie and her partner try to find his killer while another crew works the kidnapping of the wife of the ex-partner who will inherit the company.

A lot of twists and turns. Some of the answers seemed obvious, but there was still a couple of surprises at the end. This is the first I’ve read in this series and while the storyline was easy to follow, it was hard to keep track of all the different characters and there’s obviously a lot of backstory I didn’t understand not having read the others. That said, I enjoyed this book enough that I want to go back and read the others.

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Detective Nolan and her partner Remy investigate the murder of Bruce Messane who was the owner of a popular pet food franchise and a rich sex addict.
This was a great read with multiple story lines that had me glued to the pages. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this eARC that will be released August 20, 2024!