The Magician's Daughter

What a perfect story. If you're old enough to remember the movie, The Sting, you'll see the similarities to this book. Valentine is a magician in Las Vegas and heads to Ca. to catch a thief who stole her money. The fact that her mother is there running a con is an added bonus. Valentine gets involved with the FBI and tries to help con the con. There is some violence but the story moves at a frantic pace and of course good wins over the bad guys but first you have to figure out who is the good guy. I sincerely hope this is going to be a series because I see Valentine with Rico and Carl in the future. I haven't read any book by Judith Janeway before but I'm going to look for more as soon as I'm done with this review.

Valentine Hill is a street magician. Her mother, a con artist, took off about 9 years ago. Valentine has been looking for her for quite some time. She always refers to her by her name, Elizabeth, because she never really acted like a mom. She is determined to find her so she can find out her birthday, where she was born, and who her father is. One day, after doing a street show in Vegas, a teenage girl, Ashley, starts talking to her and says she looks just like her dad's girlfriend, Beth. Valentine finds out all she can in the few minutes they talk. Ashley invites Valentine to come visit in San Francisco and leaves her phone number with her. As Valentine goes to her room to get her things together to go find Elizabeth, she notices someone has ransacked her room and stolen all her money. She finds a note from Jeff, a guy who has deluded himself into thinking he is her boyfriend, saying he went to San Francisco for a big break for his band. He wants her to come out there and claims he will give her the money back when she gets there. Valentine called Ashley and found out where Elizabeth was living. She gets to her apartment, finds the door open, and a rather large muscled man inside. This is where Valentine's life starts getting all mixed up. . . People are being killed. There are people claiming to be undercover FBI agents, cops, mobsters, cab drivers, and more. Only Valentine has no idea who anyone really is or who to trust. Valentine ends up working her way into Elizabeth's current con, plus working undercover with the FBI to take down the same guy Elizabeth is working with. This was a great story, it kept me engaged from the first page to the last. A great mystery with so many twists and turns. Just when you think you know what is really going on, BAM, another twist to keep you scratching your head! Good character development with a fast paced story line. Oh and I loved the ending :)