Recently on my blog, Aubrey Nye Hamilton reviewed Face of Greed: A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery by James L’Etoile. If you have read her review, you know she liked it a lot. After setting up her review, I went looking for it at my local library with no luck. I went looking at NetGalley where I remembered seeing it recently offered. Oceanview Publishing still had it listed and so I requested it. Thankfully, it was instantaneously available with no gatekeeper delay, and I was soon hooked.

Detective Emily Hunter and Detective Javier Medina are working in Sacramento, California. In recent years she has been assigned to the Detective Bureau of the Sacramento Police Department. She is on call one evening when Lieutenant Ford, Watch Commander, calls her with an assignment. One is dead, one is injured, at what according to the initial report, is some sort of home invasion gone very wrong.

If that was not enough, both the Mayor and Chief of Police are already on scene. That means politics, powerful people, and probably pressure to get results quickly and quietly from on high. It is a cold evening this night in April and the neighborhood is clearly upscale where a murder just does not happen. But, it did this night, and Rodger Townsend is very much dead.

The deceased was fairly wealthy and had donated a considerable sum of money to Mayor Stone’s last campaign. Not only that, but Ridger Townsend was also the campaign manager. Those facts at least partially explain why the Mayor is involved. The Mayor makes it clear from the start he expects how the investigation is to be done and that includes leaving the widow, Lori Richardson, alone.

Something Detective Hunter is not willing to do as she follows the evidence and believes that Lori is involved all the way up to her beautiful face and then some. That puts her and her partner on a repeated collision course with the Mayor and her own internal police chain of command. She enjoys poking the bear with people of power and intends to do it regardless of how much it could cost her professionally or how it reflects on her partner.

At the same time, she is dealing with a serious issue at home as her elderly mother has dementia. Connie Hunter is 74 and slowly getting worse. How Emily Hunt will help her mother and whether she can or not she can is a major secondary storyline in the book.

An entertaining read, Face of Greed: A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery by James L’Etoile is a good police procedural. As Aubrey pointed out in hew review, it relies significantly on the trope of a smart good cop beset by incompetent supervisors. A hallmark of police procedurals and one that is long familiar to readers.

Despite that issue, the overall read is fast moving and highly entertaining. According to the note in the beginning of the digital ARC, there is a second one coming in the pipeline. I very much look forward to the read.

As noted in the review, my reading copy came from the publisher, OceanView Publishing, by way of a NetGalley ARC.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023 ( )

Author James L’Etoile began his long tenure in corrections as a probation officer in a juvenile facility. He subsequently became a correctional counselor and was promoted to the position of associate warden of a maximum-security prison. His career culminated with a stint as the director of the Division of Adult Parole Operations with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

His duties included drafting release reports for judges. One day, after retiring, it occurred to him that he wrote crime stories throughout his career. Drawing on his experience and knowledge, he decided to pursue a new career writing fiction. Black Label, his first published novel is a stand-alone psychological thriller dealing with big pharma and featuring a female protagonist. He next launched his Detective Nathan Parker series with Dead Drop, set in the Southwest and dealing with the immigration crisis and those caught in the middle of it. Devil Within is the second installment in the series.

Face of Greed is the first offering in a new series. Inspiration for the story came from one of the first murder investigations in which L’Etoile participated. Three gang members broke into a home and forced the homeowner to open a safe before executing him. The perpetrators claimed the homeowner “was a drug dealer and was rumored to keep large quantities of product and cash in his safe” and owed them money, L’Etoile recalls. The jury rejected their proffered defense. The shooter was sentenced to death and the other two criminals received long prison sentences. L’Etoile says that case “always stuck with me” and prompted him to pen a story in which he “asks what if there was more going on in that home invasion?”

Face of Greed introduces readers to Emily Hunter. She has been a Detective with the Sacramento Police Department for five years. When asked why he opted to craft the series around another female protagonist, L’Etoile reveals that it puts him “on edge” and prevents him from making assumptions, permitting him to “get into [the story] a little more.” Crafting a believable female law enforcement professional also makes him work harder. “You can’t just put the character in a dress,” he notes. L’Etoile, whose own daughter is in law enforcement in addition to being one of his beta readers, believes that women in what is still a male-dominated profession don’t yet receive the recognition they deserve. “They still have to work harder than men to be recognized” and are often expected, like their male peers, to conceal their feelings while performing duties that frequently invoke strong emotional reactions. L’Etoile acknowledges that law enforcement is evolving and more resources are being offered to employees to help them cope with job stressors.

Emily is single and committed to her job. She is also a loving daughter, devoted to ensuring that her seventy-year-old mother, Connie, is safe and well cared for. Connie, a retired teacher, is afflicted with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and no longer able to live independently so four months ago, Emily insisted that Connie move in with her. She has enlisted a caregiver, Sheila, to watch over Connie while she works, but her schedule is anything but predictable and she often works long hours, so the logistics have thus far proven challenging. Indeed, as the book opens, she arrives at home to find that Connie has wandered off again, prompting Sheila to suggest that Emily consider relocating Connie to a secure facility where she can receive a higher level of care. But Emily has no time to debate the subject with Sheila because she is immediately called back to work by the Watch Commander. It’s a high-profile case in which the Chief of Police and Mayor are taking a personal interest and the unusual step of responding to the scene.

Emily and her partner of six months, Detective Javier Medina, arrive at a stylish home on 46th Street in the heart of one of Sacramento’s most prestigious neighborhoods, known as the “Fabulous Forties.” Roger Townsend, a fifty-year-old power player in California political circles, has been murdered in his home, “his throat slit from ear to ear.” His glamorous wife, Lori, interrupted what appears to have been a home invasion robbery and suffered minor injuries. The floor safe in Townsend’s home office is open but there is no evidence suggesting that it was forced open. Lori insists that only her husband knew the combination to the safe and he kept only a modest amount of cash and some papers in it. A small amount of light-colored powder is visible on the bottom of the now empty safe. Lori quickly retreats to the Townsend estate in Granite Bay, and the coroner’s examination soon reveals that Townsend was also shot in the back . . . and was terminally ill.

As Emily and Javier begin investigating, their efforts are thwarted by Lori’s close friendship with the Mayor. Their interview with the Managing Partner and In-House Counsel of Townsend and Associates leads to more questions about the nature of Townsend’s business dealings and holdings, as well as why a sleazy criminal attorney operating out of a J Street storefront was Townsend’s personal lawyer. They follow clues that will hopefully provide insight into the motivation for Townsend’s killing, but more crimes, including another murder, yield more suspects and complicate their efforts. The Chief is anxious to wrap up the investigation, claiming that the case has been solved and the killer taken into custody. Emily risks an insubordination charge as she seeks to avoid a confrontation with him and the Mayor because “[o]nce politics infects a case, common sense disappears.” But it becomes increasingly apparent that politics are impeding Emily and Javier’s efforts to unravel a mystery that grows increasingly complex and convoluted, involving another detective, ex-convicts who served time in Pelican Bay (one of California’s most dangerous and notorious prisons), members of the Aryan Brotherhood, and even an Assistant United States Attorney.

Emily is a compelling character. She is a competent and determined detective, savvy and respected by colleagues who are willing to aid her efforts with leads and tips. She is willing to take risks to uncover the truth, and skates dangerously close to derailing her career when she refuses to capitulate to the political machinations of her superiors and the interference of the Mayor in her investigation. Her partnership with Javier is both collegial and affectionate, characterized by often hilarious and believable bickering and teasing. It is evident that Javier, the junior member of the team, is not threatened by Emily or in any way uncomfortable being subordinate to a female detective. On the contrary, they have a great deal in common, not the least of which is their love for and appreciation of their mothers.

L’Etoile’s riveting story is both fast-paced and cleverly plotted. As the investigation proceeds, each piece of evidence uncovered seems to inspire more questions rather than provide answers, and lead Emily and Javier in unexpected directions. L’Etoile deftly keeps readers guessing about whether and in what configuration all the various threads of the mystery will eventually pull together, but Lori repeatedly emerges as the common denominator. She is demonstrably connected to and involved with a vast group of intriguing supporting characters, some of whom are quite dastardly and mercenary. Is she innocent? Or did she play a role in her husband’s demise? If so, what would motivate her to harm the man who, by all outward appearances, afforded her a lifestyle and access to power she could not have achieved on her own?

The procedural and political aspects of the story are both credible and plausible, the latter providing dramatic tension and frustrations that inspire Emily to forge ahead despite the obstacles erected by her powerful superiors and potential adverse consequences for her career. L’Etoile expertly utilizes the setting — the city of Sacramento and surrounding areas — to maximum effect. His familiarity with the region is evident as his characters visit landmarks like the famed Renaissance Tower. Housing the fictional Townsend and Associates, the downtown behemoth is known as the “Darth Vader” building because of its modernistic design that is at odds with the structures surrounding it, including California’s beloved domed Capitol. They also proceed to the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, another architectural oddity; the county jail; and the aforementioned “Fabulous Forties” and J Street. L’Etoile provides descriptions and wry commentary that transform the city into an integral character in the tale, illustrating its incohesive and contradictory nature for readers who are unacquainted with it. “Such was Sacramento, a city in search of an identity” with a fictional mayor intent on transforming it into a cultural center and travel destination.

Face of Greed is an absorbing, entertaining, and uniquely creative mystery, at the heart of which is the empathetic and relatable Emily. She is determined to simultaneously be the best detective, daughter, and partner she can be. Thus, she is both comfortably familiar and endearing. Readers will find themselves quickly invested in her success and moved by her relationship with her mother. She is keenly aware that their time together is limited, as Connie’s memories and cognitive abilities fade. And there is a black cat who is not hers, but keeps showing up expecting to be fed so Emily accedes to its demands. Hopefully, L’Etoile will further explore the various challenges that make Emily such a fascinating protagonist in subsequent volumes, while providing her with more mystifying cases to solve in California’s River City.

Thanks to NetGalley for an electronic Advance Readers Copy of the book and to Oceanview Publishing for a paperback Advance Readers Copy. ( )

crime-fiction, Alzheimer-victim, California, family-drama, family-dynamics, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, multiple-murder, political-corruption, politics, procedural, working-partners, suspense, wealthy, attitude-of-entitlement, new-series, first-in-series, police-detectives, prison-gangs, undercover, theft, unputdownable, battery, fast-pace, home-invasion, lawyers, coercion*****

It's tough enough to work a complicated case, but when crooked politicians ( especially the mayor) tell the police chief how to manage the case and the detectives working it there is so much more. It isn't as though Detective Emily Hunter doesn't have enough problems at home with her mother's AD worsening. Fortunately her partner Detective Javier Medina's mother is great help. The case would be a nightmare even without the political hindrances, but the due diligence and a few helpful connections do help. A great read that will make an addictive series.
I requested and received an EARC from Oceanview Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )