To steal a phrase from the book, “holy fuck balls!” I finished Ill Will about a half hour ago and wanted to get my review done before any of the emotion slipped away. This is the seventh in the Micky Knight series and it is definitely one of my favorites.

Ill Will finds Micky and Cordelia together again, pretty happily I might add, after the trials and tribulations they withstood in Water Mark. Two years have passed and Micky and her friends are still trying to put their lives back together. Some of them seem to be having a better go of accomplishing it than others.

This book has Micky working two cases – both dealing with the health care industry in some way – and, of course, there are some nasty figures trying to do some harm to Micky. I read a review copy of the book, one of the few perks I sometimes get, so I don’t know if the blurb that’s listed now will be the final one but I did find the last part to be a bit misleading. Yes, someone close to Micky has cancer and there is lots of discussion of our broken health care system but the mysteries don’t really have a lot of direct impact on the cancer-haver until very close to the end. The majority of the book is Micky doing what Micky does – solving cases while dealing with her inner demons.

This Micky Knight seems more mature, calm, and domesticated than in previous books. She seems more thoughtful to me. There is also much less interaction with her friends, in general. Most of them make an appearance but, with few exceptions, they are mostly absent. I have to say, this is the first of the series where I haven’t hated her friends. And I usually hate them quite a bit. Well, I tend to like Alex. I don’t think she’s ever treated Micky like shit.

Some of you may remember me making a comment to Ms. Redmann when she appeared on Cocktail Hour about how easy her mysteries usually are for me to solve. While there’s one point that I’m surprised Micky didn’t pick up on – which I won’t share here – I have to say, the author got me on this one. I had most of it all figured out but there was one big part that I was surprised by so I tip my hat to Jean Redmann for putting in a nice twist and making my jaw drop. I will also say that I had a lump in my throat and tears brimming as I finished the last couple of pages.

I’ll wrap this review up by saying that if you have enjoyed the previous books in this series, you won’t be disappointed in this one. At all. Ms. Redmann delivers a great read and keeps the series going strong. She’s one of the few authors that can keep her readers begging for more after so many books. We never tire of Micky Knight or her life of ups and downs, loves and losses, and twists and turns. I can honestly say that I’ve never been engaged enough in a character to read past four or five books in a series but when number eight comes out, I’ll be buying it as soon as I can.

Ill Will (Micky Knight Mystery 7) by J. M. Redmann