I hold a soft spot in my heart for grumpy, rude, neatness-obsessed women, so antisocial forensic artist Macy Sheridan in VK Powell’s novel About Face made my toes curl. Meanwhile, I expected to be irritated by the extroverted and self-help spouting police officer Leigh Monroe, but instead I found depths beneath her optimistic veneer worth exploring. Both women have “issues” – Macy cannot let go of her guilt over the disappearance of a teenage friend and crush, and Leigh has mama issues and ex-lover issues and suspension from work issues, and, well, a lot of issues. If ever a woman should listen to all those self-help adages, it’s Leigh.

VK Powell writes great police procedural novels and her latest book certainly includes lots of criminal questions to be answered. Yet the focus feels more on the relationship in About Face. If anything, I was forced to suspend more than a cuppa (but less than a bucket of) disbelief as coincidences and connections piled up during the police investigations.

Yet… The push and pull between Macy and Leigh was so involving that I just went with the plot and enjoyed the ride. In addition, the sexy times were so sexy, I wanted to go back and reread Powell’s other novels to see if my memory was missing some strategic bookmarks.

Finally, I just loved so hard Leigh’s best friend Pam and her sister Hedy and her sock monkey Toby. I want to just hang out with them all, because they call Leigh out on her “issues” – well, maybe the sock monkey doesn’t talk but Toby sure does listen to Leigh’s processing out loud.

If I am not summarizing the criminal plot in About Face, that’s because I cared more about the people than the mystery. That’s fine by me, because the people’s relationship starts and stops and personal growth and family issues and messy romantic love were all the mystery I needed.

You can download a sample or purchase About Face by clicking here.