In Towles’ thriller, a California private investigator juggles multiple cases, one of which involves finding her own father.

In this second series installment, private eye Marissa “Mari” Ellwyn and her partner, Derek Abernathy, are hired to investigate a suspicious farm explosion that killed two workers. Another client, Mari’s college friend Rufus Grier, co-runs venture capital firm EarthFirst Capital, which funds startups with “environmental preservation vision.” He asks them to look into Thryve, an agricultural startup run by media darling Jack Darcy. Someone’s trying to discredit Thryve, and Grier, who has a “thousand-dollar suit” and “million-dollar smile,” wants to make sure it’s a safe investment, but the case intensifies when Darcy’s wife is kidnapped. However, the investigation closest to Mari’s heart is the search for her dad, an elusive former CIA agent. She travels to the British Virgin Islands to look for him, as he’d often go there solo when he was still with Mari’s mother, Jada. It’s been two years since his disappearance, but Mari recently received an unsigned postcard from BVI and thinks her father sent it. Mari barely sets foot on the island when she learns that, back home, her mother’s had a mild stroke; meanwhile, another postcard is waiting for her at her hotel. Readers may find Mari’s issues with her father to be a bit cringeworthy: “I knew, despite all my education and experience, that underneath I was still that five-year-old girl searching for the daddy who abandoned me and my mother.” That said, the novel effectively bounces between the various plot strands, keeping the action moving. It’s also appealingly timely, with talk of fracking and the joys of Wordle. Its biggest plus, however, is its tough protagonist; at one point, when someone threatens her with a gun, she says, “Did you come here to kill me or make a deal?…If it’s the latter, let’s deal. If not, get on with it.” Backstory from the previous installment occasionally sneaks in, but reading the series in order would be helpful for newcomers.

An often engaging tale of money, danger, and family.