The Missing Mah Jongg Player

When Marilou Dickson disappears after a blind date with an online acquaintance, it’s her Mah Jongg club partners who sound the alarm. When the Toronto PD lets the case get as cold as their Canadian winters, Harriet, Sheila, Lynne, Audrey, and Sarah refuse to give up. Harriet hires Steve Wade, a middle-aged, good-looking, capable but disorganized P.I. to investigate the cold case. With the ladies’ assistance, an arrest is finally made, but is it the right man? Steve isn’t convinced and keeps investigating a long list of neighbours, relatives, old boyfriends and acquaintances. The experience somehow reunites him with a brother, an old colleague, and an ex-stripper-turned-investigator girlfriend.

This enjoyable and unique plot had a lot going on with a plethora of characters. Not bad for a break-out book from a first-time author! Where it suffered was from a lack of editing in several areas, such as numerous random POV shifts throughout the story, wrong word usage, overuse of passive voice and clichés, discrepancies, and believability in the ending. The majority of these are things writers notice rather than readers, so if none of these situations are a bother, there’s plenty enough here for an enjoyable day of reading. This is more fiction than a romance, though it did result in a few budding relationships by the end of the story. It’s got all the makings of a continuing series with its huge character pool to fish from, and nothing improves writing skills like writing more books. So good job and keep writing, Ms. Wynn!

Lori Leger