The Self-Made Widow - Fabian Nicieza

I absolutely loved Fabian Nicieza's Edgar Award nominated debut novel, Suburban Dicks. I was thrilled to see that he had penned a follow up The Self-Made Widow. Would it measure up to the five star first book? It did indeed! 

At the center of the cast of characters is Andrea Stern. She was an up and coming profiler with the FBI many years ago. And then she got pregnant, married and now has five children. But does that stop her from investigating? Nope! (Her mothering skills had me laughing out loud more than once.) Andrea has the respect of a number of law enforcement agencies after the last case. The other main character is Kenny Lee. He's a journalist and is flying high on the success that the last case brought to him. The relationship between he and Andrea is, well, complicated. There is a wealth of supporting characters including the Cellulitists - a group of neighborhood mothers.

This latest case involves them directly as one of their husbands has died. But Andrea can't let go of the idea that it was murder, not a natural death. And she's like a dog with a bone...

Okay, fabulous characters that are really well drawn. Check. We met them in the first book and Nicieza has continued fleshing them out, touching on a number of real concerns, thoughts, events and more.

Next? A fantastic plot! This is not a cozy series. The plot premise is so well written and it was difficult to suss out the final whodunit. The reader is along for the ride, presented with the same clues as our characters. 

Wonderfully creative writing. Fun, fresh, different, engaging and just a whole lot of fun to read. Nicieza is the co-creator of  Marvel's Deadpool. Uh, huh that same wry humor, an unusual, intriguing mystery and two decidedly different leads make this another 'can't put it down read.' 

Highly recommended and an easy five stars. See for yourself - read an excerpt of The Self-Made Widow.