The Second Secret by Alan Lee

The Second Secret by Alan Lee
Publisher: Sparkle Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Private detective Mackenzie August is trying run to an honest business.
Until the woman of his dreams walks in,
With a mystery on her hands.

Meet Veronica Summers.
She’s a client in Jimmy Choo heels–a local attorney needing the services of a private investigator.
She’s come to the right place.

Mackenzie August is hired to sniff out a traitorous informant hiding in an underworld operation. It’s an assignment he should turn down–if only someone other than Ronnie Summers had asked, maybe he could have…

Mackenzie is tossed into the deep end and finds himself mingling with the mafioso. Is his professional career worth risking for the sake of a cute girl with sordid secrets?

PI Mackenzie August has complicated feelings about Veronica Summers. She’s a femme fatale local attorney but everything between them is complicated. Ronnie hires Mackenzie to uncover an informant, but when Mackenzie knows the informant will likely find a messy ending because snitching on a criminal kingpin can never be let slide – so how can Mackenzie balance his duty to their mutual client – Ronnie’s father – but still do the right thing?

I enjoyed this mystery, very much written in the sense of a classic hard boiled detective novel. Even though it’s quite current the feel and overall tone of the book is old school and brilliantly balanced. I feel this should appeal to a wide range of readers, but both modern and more traditional.

I thought the plot was well balanced but not too complicated. This is an easy book to pick up and put back down again. I also appreciated that the author did a good job in highlighting some of the moral grey area Mackenzie found himself in. While the plot is quite straightforward really, there was quite an undertow of right vs wrong and the grey area of real life in the middle.

With interesting characters, a lot of shades of grey, and a solid detective mystery in the middle this was an enjoyable and good read. This author is fairly new to me and I am absolutely keen to read more. Recommended.