Flipping Out: A Lomax and Biggs Mystery — Marshall Karp. Minotaur
LAPD homicide detectives Michael Lomax and Terry Biggs take on a killer
targeting a group of police officers' wives in Karp's irreverent third
mystery (after 2007's Bloodthirsty). When spouses of some of Lomax and
Biggs's closest co-workers are found murdered, they begin their
investigation by questioning the surviving members of the LA Flippers, the
partnership of cop wives who, along with popular mystery writer Nora
Bannister, have found a lucrative way to flip houses in the highly
competitive Southern California real estate market. With the body count
rising and pressure from Lomax and Biggs's superiors to close the case fast,
the wisecracking duo must somehow track down a cunning psychopath before
Biggs's wife becomes the killer's next target. Blending the gritty realism
of a Joseph Wambaugh police procedural with the sardonic humor of Janet
Evanovich, Karp delivers a treat that's not only laugh-out-loud funny but
also remarkably suspenseful.