City of Secrets by P. J. Tracy is a highly recommended investigative mystery and the fourth book in the Detective Margaret (Maggie) Nolan series.

Los Angeles Police Detective Maggie Nolan and her partner Detective Al Crawford are called in to investigate a man found dead in his car in what appears to have been a car jacking. During the same time Bruce Messane, the co-founder of Peppy Pets, misses the meeting for the sale of his company for $100 million. Chief financial officer of Peppy Pets, Cynthia Jackson, tries to reach Messane to no avail. Then the dead man in the car is identified as Messane. Retired veterinarian Rome Bechtold, Messane’s former partner, has no current involvement with the company, but shortly after Messane's death Bechtold's wife, Nicole, is kidnapped. The complications multiply after this.

Clearly the case is much more convoluted and perplexing than just a murder case and Nolan has her work cut out for her. The enjoyment is found in trying to put together the pieces of the intricate investigative puzzle as each new piece is uncovered. The tension remains high and readers will be engaged in the narrative throughout the novel. There include some twists and surprises along the way.

As the fourth book in a series character development is ongoing. I've read books three and four now and felt enough background is provided to enjoy the series, although the complexities of the investigation rather than the personal situations are more my focus when reading procedurals. The members of the team work do well together. I think readers who are interested in complex investigation, especially with a strong female lead, can enjoy this as a standalone novel.

City of Secrets is a great choice for those who enjoy complicated investigative mysteries and procedurals. Thanks to Minotaur Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

In this 4th installment to author P.J. Tracy’s Detective Margaret Nolan series, “City of Secrets” takes the reader on a very complex, intricately-woven suspenseful journey. Though, perhaps a little too complex, as the reader is introduced to a large cast of players and multiple story threads that can be a bit challenging to keep straight. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, well-written crime drama from start to finish and all of its twists and turns along the way. This isn’t my first book by P.J. Tracy, and it certainly won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Reading this, you might think that every crime in LA is connected, but in this one they really do seem to cover a lot of territory!

When LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan is called out to what seems at first to be a carjacking turned murder, she can't figure out what the wealthy owner of a pet food conglomerate was doing in this seedy part of LA to begin with. And who would know he was there so he could be killed? But when an eyewitness tells them he was killed and only THEN did a mysterious woman show up to laugh and take his keys and other possessions, it REALLY gets bizarre. The eyewitness then stole the wheels off the car, which led to his arrest and this story.

The victim, Bruce Messane, was in the midst of selling his company and his disappearance and subsequent death ends that purchase, and the hopes of everyone who owned a part of the company. Further investigation finds that there is something fishy going on with the books of the company, and even the CFO has missed the clues.

The neighborhood where Messane was killed has recently been taken over by a new drug cartel that is scaring everyone into not talking to the police, but one man does give them some clues, before he, too, is murdered. Then Messane's ex-partner's wife is kidnapped. And then the ex-partner, Rome Bechtold is also kidnapped, right under the nose of the police helping with his wife's kidnapping!!

What in the world is going on? Well, Maggie and her partner dig a lot and call in a lot of favors and FINALLY get to the bottom of what is going on, although not before a few more murders. But in the end, Maggie and her lover Remy turn out OK.

P.J. Tracy (pseudonym of Traci Lambrecht) returns with the fourth police procedural crime novel featuring Los Angeles Homicide Detective Margaret “Maggie” Nolen. The complex and multi-layered plot has several threads that must be connected to solve the case. Can Maggie and her partner, Detective Al Crawford, put the pieces together?

Maggie is competitive, hates to lose, likes to be in control, loves her job, and has a temper. While she’s dedicated to her work, she and Detective Remy Beaudreau are also trying to determine where they want their relationship to go. Connecting with Maggie was effortless. She’s relatable and the secondary characters were very well developed. However, due to the number of them, it might be easier to assimilate if one has read the first three books in the series as some are reoccurring characters.

The book starts with three seemingly unrelated chapters. How the author weaves them into the story and builds the connections kept me engaged throughout. She balances the crime portion of the novel with a look at the developments in the personal lives of some of the main and secondary characters. This added another dimension to the story as well as helping readers relate more to the characters.

Filled with suspense, action, and various investigations, this novel has something for everyone who enjoys crime novels and police procedurals. The tension level stayed high throughout the story as I tried to put the pieces together along with Maggie and Al. Several of the last few chapters had surprises in them along with the action. This added depth to the story as well as helped to connect more of the facets of the investigation. The intriguing plot unfolded at a moderately fast pace and the world-building transported me to Los Angeles. There was always something new going on that kept me engaged. While the investigation threads were resolved, there were a couple of open items on the personal side for which I wanted more closure. Themes include murder, abductions, gangs, greed, friendship, family, and much more.

Overall, this compelling and gripping novel was a page turner with great characterization and a complex plot. While this series is best read in order, enough background is provided to allow this to be a standalone novel as well. Those who enjoy police procedurals and crime thrillers with a strong female lead will likely enjoy the series. I can’t wait to see where the author takes the next book in the series.

St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books and P.J. Tracy provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for August 20 2024. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Los Angeles Police Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner have worked a lot of different cases, ones where things aren’t always as they appear. And it’s Nolan’s job to find the truth in the darkness around her. When they’re called to the scene of what looks like a fatal car-jacking, Nolan soon realizes her victim was a founder of a company about to sell for millions, and within a day of his death, his partner’s wife is abducted. As Nolan learns more about the victim and his life, she gets pulled into a disturbing world of sex, violence, and big business; and an even darker world, where whispers of an "Angel of Death" are beginning to surface. Another outstanding outing in this series. If you aren't reading this series you should be.

This book was a miss for me. And it wasn’t because the mystery was not good. It honestly had to do with too many characters and jumping around too much. I really dislike it when authors do this and add so many characters that pop up once then it takes multiple chapters to come back to them, if they even reappear. I get this is a much more realistic view of how an investigation might go but as a reader it is not something I enjoy. This is 100% a personal preference. If you enjoy that type of story telling you might really enjoy this book. Jumping around that much just takes me out of the story.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

City of Secrets by P.J.Tracy

Taking place present day in Los Angeles, California, this Detective Margaret Nolan mystery just did not grab my interest. There were so many characters, I couldn’t gain traction with any of them.

It was a very busy story, with too many moving parts. There are detectives, bad guys, drugs, murder, attempted murder and a little romance. There was one ah-ha moment, which I thought was well done, but all in all, I’ll settle on three stars for this story.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this early release copy.
My first mistake with this book was not realizing that it was the fourth in a series. While a lot of books can be good standalones without having read the rest of the series, I did not find this one to be. I mean sure, the crimes they were solving were their own story that worked on its own, However the characters and their relationships were just not relatable to me. Often books will help you gain insight into the character's relationships and who they are as people with quick descriptions. If that was done at all in this book, it wasn't helpful. The characters felt like strangers to me and I did not understand their dynamic or find any of them likeable. That being said, maybe if I had read the rest of the series I would have enjoyed this book more with a better understanding of the characters and their relationships.

Margaret Nolan and her colleagues on the Los Angeles Police Department are back with another case. When a man is found dead in his car, Nolan begins to investigate. But there are more twists and turns awaiting the team and it will take everyone on the team to try to unravel and solve this case.

This one had a lot going on and it was sometimes hard to keep everything straight. But the story was solid and all came together. Nolan and partner Al Crawford have a fun banter that keeps their investigations fun, even when the crime is not. Nolan and Remy are still trying to keep their relationship a secret, but I guess when you work with a bunch of cops, it's probably hard to keep secrets lol.

There are a lot of characters to get to know in the beginning so it moves a little slow at first, but then it picks up quick.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available August 20, 2024.

If you like a neat and tidy finished story you will be disappointed. However, if you enjoy plot twists and dramatic turns, you will be delighted as you read this story. P. J. Tracy brings back the detectives from LA’s famed Glass Palace to solve a puzzle of a crime. While doing so she shows their human side as they also struggle with their own personal issues. It is masterful piece of writing with characters that will anger and those that will pull at the heart strings.

4.25/5 stars

Fourth in the Detective Margaret Nolan series, this one finds Maggie investigating the death of a wealthy businessman found in his car in a seedy part of LA. With basically nothing to go on, the strange kidnapping of his former business partner and his wife add to the perplexing mix. As Maggie and cohorts begin their deep dive into backgrounds and motivations, they discover addiction, drug cartel involvement and just plain greed. But who actually pulled the trigger and for what reason? And how does the ex-business partner and his wife fit into the puzzle?

Meanwhile, Sam Easton, a soldier home from Afghanistan who has suffered from PTSD, begins to take back his life as he decides to join the SWAT team.

And on the personal front, both Maggie and Sam move forward in major ways with their significant others and lead the reader to wonder, where do they go from here?

I'm enjoying this series more and more as it goes along. It sometimes gets a bit distracting having both Maggie AND Sam as seemingly main leads (when they're not together the majority of the time and linked only by the beginning of a friendship), but I'm adjusting to that and am interested to see where the author goes with these characters. The plotlines are entertaining, the characters funny and dedicated.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for providing the free early arc of City of Secrets for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Murder. Kidnapping. Angel of Death. All three are mysteries Detective Margaret Nolan must solve before the body count goes any higher.

I told myself I would stop reading at the 25% mark. That changed to the 50% mark. But the pull of City of Secrets kept me reading until I finished the entire book. Tracy’s writing immersed me into the underworld of LA, while multiple plot lines kept me so engaged I couldn’t put it down until I was done.

Margaret Nolan is an up-and-coming detective in LAPD’s Homicide Special Section. Her job involves the worst of humanity, yet Dolan isn’t a hardened detective. She’s still mourning the loss of her brother in Afghanistan and dedicated to solving the cases that come her way. Her emotions regarding Remy Beaudreau, a fellow detective, and their relationship keep her off kilter when he’s around. Their nebulous relationship is also a forbidden one, according to work rules. If the captain finds out one of the two of them will have to leave, a negative career move. And those personal conflicts, inner and outer, are key to keeping the characters interesting and growing. All the characters have them, to one degree or another. And those conflicts kept me reading.

What also kept me reading was the plot. So many twists and turns. A murder. A kidnapping. Are they tied together? If so, how? I figured out some bits and pieces here and there, but everything didn’t come together until the end. It’s a plot that starts out with the murder of a successful businessman in a part of town he shouldn’t be in and expands out to international crime.

City of Secrets is the fourth book in the Detective Margaret Dolan series. Read the earlier books to have a better understanding of what is going on in the series overall. This book also references events in earlier books.

The only problem I had was keeping all the characters straight. City of Secrets has a large cast; some of them recurring characters throughout the series, and others exclusive to this novel. At times I had to stop and think about a particular character and how they fit into the story, but never enough to pull me out of the novel.

With a solid cast of characters and a plot that twists and turns, Tracy’s writing in City of Secrets pulled me in from the beginning and kept me turning the pages until the satisfying conclusion. If a tightly woven mystery with a compelling cast of characters, gritty atmosphere, sprinkled with hope and humor appeals, then give City of Secrets a try.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the e-book. All opinions are my own.

City of Secrets is the fourth entry in the Detective Margaret Nolan series. I will admit, I have not read the other three, but that did not tarnish the enjoyment I received from reading this book. It was easy to follow along every twist and turn that was thrown at me. The story opens with a murdered man found in his car in a seedy part of LA. Then a kidnapping occurs that is linked to him. So Detectives Nolan and Crawford embark on solving the mystery.

I was thankful that the story was not overly violent or gory. Each character is given a voice and it worked great. There was no confusion jumping from one POV to the next. There are quite a few characters that I am sure are more developed in the first three novels, but this worked without having read them. I will go back and read them now!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

City of Secrets by P.J. Tracy is the fourth A Margaret Nolan Mystery. As I discovered, City of Secrets is not a standalone book. City of Secrets is a slow starter. A host of characters are introduced in the beginning. It is confusing. It did not help that Detective Margaret Nolan is called different names (Maggie, Mags, Margaret, Nolan, and Detective Nolan). I wish back stories had been provided for the main characters. In addition to the large cast of characters, it jumps from one scene to scene another. This did not encourage me to keep reading (but I did). The pacing picks up in the latter half of the story when there is more action. The whodunit keeps the detectives on their toes. I wish it had kept me guessing as well. I found it to be predictable (I was not shocked as one character was at the end). The case details are repetitive (an example is the medical examiner gives information to a detective, the detective tells her partner, and so on). I did not like that there was a dognapping, and I was very upset by the poor emaciated street dog (and what was going to happen to poor creature). The story has a significant amount of foul language. The not-so-secret romance between Margaret and Remy was unneeded addition as well as some other substories. I was happy when I turned the last page of City of Secrets. City of Secrets was not my cup of tea, but I encourage you to download a sample to see if it suits you.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story begins with Maggie and Al being called to a scene which is thought to be a carjacking. Once they arrive, they determine it is a homicide. There was no identification with the body, but following up regarding the vehicle registration, they determined that body was Bruce Messane, a company owner who was selling his company for $100 million. It seems that the buyer was at a meeting at Bruce's hdqtrs. and waiting for Bruce to close the deal. After attempting to contact him ans d not having any luck, the meeting was called off. Later, Cynthia, a company officer, went to check out Bruce's house and discovered that there was a possible intruder there. She contacted the police and it was then she learned of Bruce's death.

Another incident happened around the same time and Rome's wife, Nicole, was kidnapped and Rome was told not to contact the police. The kidnapping was learned when Al and Maggie went to interview Rome for information relating to Bruce. Because the police became aware of the kidnapping, Rome wound up being abducted as well.

To top matters off Remy, Maggie's boyfriend, was working on a case which indirectly related to Bruce's death, the abductions as well. As the team by further searches identified a suspect that was associated with all of the events.

To learn what reason Bruce was killed, why Rome and Nicole were abducted and how Remy's case came into the picture, then you need the book. The ending will answer all questions.

Trying to guess ahead of time who the villain was is not easy, I know I didn't have any idea until it was revealed at the end. This is definitely a book you don't want to miss

This series featuring Detective Maggie Nolan is one I look forward to! The cast of familiar characters adds to the crime story that takes place in the pages of the book. While this could definitely be a stand-alone book --- why not read the others too! This story has some complexities to it that keep the reader trying to put it all together ahead of the police work.....which keeps the pages turning for a quick and satisfying read. The interactions of the familiar characters in both their personal and professional lives gives a sense of investment to both the characters and the outcome of the storyline. Again - this book has a few things going on at once as members of LAPD work together to put all the pieces together to solve murders, kidnapping and drug crimes! As it winds down into an ending that is both surprising and satisfying...I look forward to see what happens in the next book! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #CityofSecrets

City of Secrets starts with several familiar characters in short chapters, each seemingly unrelated to the next. First Bruce Messane gets a call from Mimi. Next, Detectives Maggie Nolan and her partner Al Crawford are called to a new case; also, there’s Detective Remy Beaudreau and the Kang case he’s working on involving fentanyl. Third: Sam Easton learns of the possibility of consulting for SWAT. Fourth, Officer Gonzales is outside of Poppy’s Body Shop investigating an unidentified dead body shot inside a BMW. Chapter Five introduces several additional new characters: Cynthia Jackson, CFO of Bruce Messane’s company at a meeting with Wilder and his attorney, Montserrat De Leon. Finally, in Chapter Six, Maggie and Al identify the dead body as Bruce Messane, President and CEO of Peppy Pets. And slowly, from that point on, the pieces start to fall into place and somehow the murder, the Kang case, the SWAT team’s investigation, and a subsequent kidnapping are all connected somehow, each one providing clues as to the big picture. However, the novel ends with several key pieces of evidence unaccounted for and a few other significant loose ends, leaving an opening for a fifth novel.

City of Secrets kept my attention throughout as well as fueling my curiosity as to what was going to occur next. As the reader, we have the benefit of information that the detectives are lacking. Ultimately, how everything will play out will have to wait until Book #5. I’m looking forward to reading more novels in this series by PJ Tracy.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted on bookwormishme.com and goodreads.com today.

Whoa this was a wild story. So many threads to be brought together to solve a mystery. Loved it. Spent way too much time reading because I couldn’t put it down!

Maggie Nolan is a homicide detective in Los Angeles. When a body is found in a shady part of Culver City, Maggie and her partner Al are called to investigate. Who they find should not be in this part of town, in a very expensive car, now missing all four wheels. Was the driver killed for his wheels? Or was it something more sinister?

Wrapped up in this story is an attorney from Spain who has noble blood. A retired veterinarian with something to lose, and gain. Maggie’s paramour, Remy, another detective who comes from very old money. Sam, a former soldier with PTSD, now interviewing for a position with SWAT. There are a lot of storylines to follow, which truly makes you wonder how this is all going to come together at the end.

But it definitely does come together in this page turner that kept me engaged and riveted. The characters are real and have flaws. The individual storylines are interesting. While I probably would have liked reading the first 3 books to have some background, I didn’t need it. This novel can be read as a standalone (though it was so good, I will go back and read the first 3.)

A terrific crime thriller set in LA. This is the first I have read in the series, but it won’t be my last. City of Secrets kept me entertained throughout the book.

4 out of 5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Maggie Nolan and her partner are called in to investigate the apparent carjacking and murder of multi-millionaire Bruce Messane and the subsequent abduction of his partner's wife. Their investigation into his life led them to a world of violent sex and questionable business practices. At the time of his murder, he had been in negotiations to sell the company he had founded for millions of dollars. Maggie and her partner, no strangers to cases surrounded by darkness and intrigue, find themselves involved in an investigation filled with lies and deceit they never could have imagined.